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A new Christchurch art exhibition will give people with blindness or low vision the chance to experience the work with a number of pieces that you can 'touch' and 'feel'.

The Touching Sight exhibition showcases new work by three contemporary Christchurch artists.

"Each of the artists who've contributed to Touching Sight work in different mediums, and we've brought them together for a playful exhibition that celebrates different ways of making and seeing art," said art gallery curator Melanie Oliver.

Being unable to see doesn't need to be a barrier to appreciating visual art, the exhibition includes some works that people can touch and feel.

Photographer Conor Clarke (Ngi Tahu) has worked with participants from the blind and low vision community to make a series of large, touchable photographs that represent landscapes described as they remember them.

Emma Fitts has made brightly coloured, voluminous sculptural textiles, inspired by the form, colour and composition of twentieth-century paintings.

Oliver Perkins's paintings are the result of restless experimentation in the studio.

These works challenge our contemporary understanding of abstraction and how it can represent or reflect our experience.

"We have a reference room at the heart of Touching Sight that includes audio descriptions of each work. They don't describe things in the way a sighted person would, but in a way that would let someone with low vision understand and appreciate them.

"We've tried to talk about things like colour for someone who may never have actually seen one before how do you do that? We've brought in the other senses as much as we can, things like texture and feeling," Oliver said.

"And the title of the exhibition also comes into play, because some of the artworks have been specially crafted so that visitors can touch them and experience art in a way that people don't often get to."

Touching Sight runs from October 31 2020 to February 21 2021 at Christchurch Art Gallery.

There will also be an artist floortalk, where visitors can join the three artists and curator Melanie Oliver for a conversation about their projects.

Touching Sight is one of several exhibitions in the Gallery's All Art All Summer season, designed to make everyone feel welcome this summer.

The season will launch officially on 5 December 2020.

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New Christchurch Art Gallery exhibition aims to include those with blindness or low vision - New Zealand Herald

Newswise Mass Eye and Ear is proud to announce the successful conclusion of its historic campaign, Bold Science. Life-Changing Cures. which raised $252M from philanthropy to advance research to treat and cure diseases of vision, hearing, and the head and neck.

The campaign was led by co-chair Wyc Grousbeck, Boston Celtics CEO and Lead Owner and former Chairman of Mass Eye and Ear. Grousbeck was elected Chairman of the Foundation and Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear in 2010, and stepped down from the position earlier this year. He will continue to serve as a trustee and contribute to advancing Mass Eye and Ears mission, with a lasting legacy that includes two endowed chairs and a gene therapy research center he and his family established.

The campaigns finale culminated in a virtual celebration as part of the hospitals annual Sense-ation! Gala on Wednesday, October 28, 2020 at 7:30 PM EST. This years gala was held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and was hosted by longtime Mass Eye and Ear friends, Billy Costa, (Co-Host of KISS 108s Matty in the Morning and NESNs Dining Playbook) and founding gala chair Joey McIntrye (New Kids on the Block).

[Watch the entire 11th Annual Sense-ation Gala!]

Bold Science. Life-Changing Cures. Ends with Enduring Legacy

The Bold Science. Life-Changing Cures. campaign was launched with the goal of expediting cures for blindness, deafness and diseases of the head and neck by investing in three key areas: people, programs and places (our facilities). Through this campaign, the generosity of donors and organizations infused significant financial resources into Mass Eye and Ears cutting-edge research programs, and supported the facilities needed by the leading physicians and scientists in Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery to conduct their world-class work.

The campaign resulted in a powerful and far-reaching impact on research at Mass Eye and Ear by faculty, including:

Additionally, new Research Centers were launched in gene therapy, tinnitus, and head and neck cancer and two world-class surgical training laboratories were built.

The campaign also will leave a lasting legacy of fourteen endowed Chairs for leading physicians and scientists that will remain for generations. The endowment of a Chair provides financial support for researchers, allowing them to focus on their efforts to develop treatments and cures.

Wyc Grousbeck Honored for Dedication to Mass Eye and Ear During 10 years as Chairman

Grousbeck, who served as Board Chairman at Mass Eye and Ear for the past decade, was honored at this years Sense-ation! Gala for his many contributions. During his tenure, he led the organization through remarkable growth, both clinically and as a world-renowned research center. Mass Eye and Ear surgical volume doubled and the number of clinical locations grew from 9 to 21 throughout the region. Grousbecks leadership played critical roles in two highly successful mergers: Schepens Eye Research Institute joining Mass Eye and Ear in 2012 and Mass Eye and Ear joining Mass General Brigham (formerly Partners HealthCare) in 2018. He also initiated and served as co-chair of the Bold Science. Life-Changing Cures. campaign.

Wycs leadership during the campaign has been nothing short of magnificent; he has showed us anything is possible, said John Fernandez, President of Mass Eye and Ear. When we first reached our $100M goal in the campaign, Wyc called on us to double that amount by 2020. With Wycs guidance, we were able to exceed that ambitious goal by more than $50M by the campaigns end.

Grousbeck first became involved with Mass Eye and Ear because his family has been touched by blindness, and since then, they have been devoted to research and educational initiatives relating to blindness and other vision-related conditions for many years.

Grousbeck and his familys philanthropic support established the Grousbeck Center for Gene Therapy at Mass Eye and Ear as well as the Grousbeck Family Chair in Gene Therapy, held by Luk H. Vandenberghe, PhD. Additionally, Wyc and his wife, Emilia Fazzalari, funded the Fazzalari-Grousbeck Chair in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery held by Tessa Hadlock, MD. Most recently, they seeded Dr. Vandenberghes work to develop an experimental and novel genetic vaccine for COVID-19.

Grousbeck was a driving force around establishing the first Sense-ation Gala 11 years ago, which brought celebrities, musicians, philanthropists, and scientists together to help raise funds for Mass Eye and Ear research and patient care. The gala to date has raised more than $12M for the Mass Eye and Ear Curing Kids Fund.

About Mass Eye and Ear

Massachusetts Eye and Ear, founded in 1824, is an international center for treatment and research and a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. A member ofMass General Brigham, Mass Eye and Ear specializes in ophthalmology (eye care) and otolaryngologyhead and neck surgery (ear, nose and throat care). Mass Eye and Ear clinicians provide care ranging from the routine to the very complex. Also home to the world's largest community of hearing and vision researchers, Mass Eye and Ear scientists are driven by a mission to discover the basic biology underlying conditions affecting the eyes, ears, nose, throat, head and neck and to develop new treatments and cures. In the 20202021 Best Hospitals Survey,U.S. News & World Reportranked Mass Eye and Ear #4 in the nation for eye care and #6 for ear, nose and throat care.For more information about life-changing care and research at Mass Eye and Ear, visit our blog,Focus, and follow us onInstagram,TwitterandFacebook.

Originally posted here:
Mass Eye and Ear Capital Campaign Concludes with $252 Million Raised to Advance Research and Patient Care - Newswise

By Carmen Heredia Rodriguez, Kaiser Health News

Norma Crosby remembers when she relied on blind faith to cast her vote.

The 64-year-old Texan was born virtually without sight, a side effect of her mother catching rubella while pregnant with her. Friends and relatives stood beside her and filled out her ballot at polling precincts for more than half of her voting life. Then, accessible voting machines rolled out around the year 2000, enabling her to vote in person on her own.

Now, the COVID-19 pandemic makes going to the polls a risky proposition for Crosby. She also has a condition called sarcoidosis that requires her to take immunosuppressant drugs, she said. However, the state does not have a mail-in voting system that accommodates Crosbys visual impairment.

It communicates to me that Im not valued as much as other citizens, said Crosby, president of the National Federation of the Blind of Texas, that Im a second-class citizen.

A projected 7 million Americans who are eligible to vote in the presidential election live with visual impairments, according to researchers from Rutgers university. For those, like Crosby, who also deal with illnesses that place them at a higher risk of falling seriously ill with COVID-19, voting this year will be especially difficult.

The pandemic exposed glaring holes in absentee and mail-in voting systems around the nation. In some jurisdictions, voters who have whats known as print disabilities conditions that make it difficult to process printed content, such as blindness, low vision or learning or physical disabilities could not cast a ballot remotely without asking for help, thereby compromising their privacy.

Outcry and lawsuits from disability advocates prompted at least 11 states to update their mail-in and absentee ballot systems in an attempt to accommodate these voters. Some changes enable voters to use text-reading software with their ballots and submit them online through a secure portal.

However, some states have been slow to address these needs. In Iowa, voters cannot vote confidentially using the mail-in system because the state requires the use of paper ballots. Texas residents like Crosby must find someone to fill out their ballot and mail it in or take it to the sole drop box in the county all during a pandemic that has required people to physically distance themselves to stay safe.

We should not have to choose, said Chris Danielsen, director of public relations for the National Federation of the Blind, between endangering our health and going to the polls in person, or not voting at all.

Several federal laws affirm the right of all people, regardless of disability, to vote in an accessible manner. The Americans with Disabilities Act, passed in 1990, requires state and local governments to make the voting process user-friendly to voters of various abilities. This includes providing accessible parking spaces and placing voting machines where people using wheelchairs have enough space to move and at a height reachable by all.

In 2002, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act. The law built on the previous legislation by requiring every polling place to have at least one voting machine available during federal elections that accommodates a range of disabilities. These gadgets vary in features by manufacturer, but they can include touch screens, buttons labeled in Braille and audio capabilities. Voters using them must have the same privacy and independence enjoyed by people who dont have such challenges.

However, states largely retained the power to decide how to comply with these federal mandates, said Lisa Schur, co-director of the Program for Disability Research at Rutgers. The result, she said, is an uneven patchwork that voters with disabilities must navigate.

With COVID-19 creating a reason to avoid in-person voting, some states, such as Texas, still failed to take steps to make it possible for a voter with visual or print impairments to fill out a mail-in ballot without assistance. The state government is also embroiled in a lawsuit regarding its decision to limit ballot drop-off boxes to one per county.

Harris County, where Houston is located, covers more than 1,700 square miles and is home to 4.7 million people. The distance becomes an added hardship for voters who opted to vote remotely and would prefer to drop off their ballot to make sure it is counted.

The state declined to comment due to the pending litigation.

Iowa also has fallen short in making systemic changes to improve access, according to disability advocates. Like Texas, the state provides only paper ballots for voters wishing to vote absentee.

Scott Van Gorp, president of the National Federation of the Blind in Iowa, said he initially felt resigned to his lack of privacy when he started voting. He was born three months early, leaving him with little more than light perception for sight. As a college student in the 1990s, Van Gorp rallied his friends to help him cast his vote.

I kept thinking, Thats not a secret ballot. Why?

In a written statement, a spokesperson for the Iowa secretary of state said it has made efforts to even the field by creating a large-print voter registration form and how-to videos on using accessible voting machines at polling locations. It cannot unilaterally make a change to improve accessibility without legislative approval, he added.

Election officials in several other states, though, including the battlegrounds of Nevada, Pennsylvania and Michigan, adopted changes this year to their mail-in ballot systems to accommodate people with visual disabilities.

In Maine, voters with impairments can request, fill out and submit their votes electronically through a new online platform. The ballots are compatible with various types of screen-reader software and will be counted through the same system used for absentee and overseas military voters.

This option became available in early October after the state was notified of confidentiality issues with paper ballots and sued by disability advocates.

Kristen Muszynski, a spokesperson for Maines secretary of state office, said some of the plaintiffs named in the lawsuit helped test the system. Litigation is now on hold, she said, and she is hopeful the new voting option will help resolve some of the issues.

Were hopeful that the word is starting to get out, Muszynski said.

A few jurisdictions around the nation offer Braille ballots. However, said Douglas Kruse, co-director of the Program for Disability Research at Rutgers, voters may still need someone to help them fill one out and submit it. These ballots would also need to be counted separately, compromising the voters privacy.

One of the few states that have not needed to make drastic changes to accommodate voters with disabilities during the pandemic is Oregon, where mail-in ballots have been the primary form of voting for years.

Voters with disabilities can access and fill out ballots electronically using assistive technology like screen readers and sip-and-puff systems through which a person with limited mobility controls the device using their breath and a straw to vote. Then, the ballots must be mailed in.

Sean Carlson, 42, president of the Portland Central Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind, said he has never encountered issues while voting in his home state. He and his colleagues are focused on bringing awareness to the importance of having a say in our democracy, he said.

It should not be that if someone has a disability that they should be locked out of that process.

For now, Norma Crosby, who lives outside Houston, plans to vote in person, and she will need to bring a sighted friend to make sure she maintains social distance. After all, she cant see whether other people are wearing masks.

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

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Election Ballots Aren't Accessible to People With Low Vision - The Mighty

There are cases for re-electing President Trump that make sense in their own terms. If your top priorities are tax cuts, immigration restriction, or conservative judges, for example, Trump has proven a remarkably reliable vehicle for achieving those ends. Other cases reflect a willful blindness to reality. Far from draining the swamp, for example, Trump has turned himself into the capital's premier swamp-dweller.

But most voters in the middle care about practical results, and from health care to infrastructure to trade, Trump's efforts have been largely feckless and incompetent. Even discounting the glaring failure of his response to COVID-19, an area where plenty of peer countries have not exactly covered themselves with glory, the administration has a very thin record of accomplishment to run on.

There's one area, though, where Trump can argue he has genuinely distinguished himself from prior administrations, Democratic and Republican, in a way that should matter deeply to the American people. Trump ran in both the primaries and the general election as the man who would keep America out of unnecessary wars and who would end the ones we were in. He hasn't ended any of our wars yet, but Trump is in fact the first president since Jimmy Carter not to have sent American troops into a new conflict.

So it's at least worth hearing out the idea: Is Trump the peace candidate?

The claim, made most prominently by Modern Age editor and The Week contributor Daniel McCarthy, rests on three arguments. First, as noted, Trump did not involve America in any new conflicts. For a normal nation, this would not be an extraordinary accomplishment but for America, it might be. Military intervention has long-since become a way of life in American foreign policy. Even Barack Obama, who was elected on a promise not to get involved in "stupid wars," was convinced to intervene in Libya, with catastrophic results, and it was only at the last moment that he pulled back from a comparable effort in Syria. By contrast, Trump, while he appointed super-hawks like Mike Pompeo and John Bolton to be his advisors, declined to be talked into war with Iran. Shouldn't he get credit for that?

Second, while Trump is the last person anyone would call diplomatic, he has been a promiscuous globe-trotter in search of peace deals. He long advocated a rapprochement with Russia, initiated personal diplomacy with North Korea for the first time at the presidential level, and, most notably, facilitated peace agreements between Israel and three Arab states the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Sudan with the potential for more to come. If this is not the record of a peace-maker, what is it?

The third argument is the most important, because it speaks to overall philosophy, not generally considered this president's strong point. But if Trump has a theory of the world, it is that you should make deals that benefit yourself. Applied to foreign policy, this suggests the goal of American foreign policy should not be to improve other countries or to advance some values we hold dear, but to get the best possible deals for America. So if, for example, we can woo North Korea away from confrontation (and out of a pro-Chinese alignment) by soft-pedaling concerns about human rights or missile development, why not do it?

Is that peace? If so, Trump has a case. But I don't think it's peace.

For one thing, while it's true that Trump did not start a war with Iran, he did take a high-risk gamble in assassinating terrorist mastermind General Qassem Soleimani, and the fact that the gamble has so far paid off doesn't invalidate how risky it was at the time, nor the fact that, in that instance, he did listen to his extremely hawkish advisors. Moreover, Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal that was one of Obama's notable accomplishments, which has, predictably, led Iran to move further toward nuclear potential while shredding any American diplomatic leverage. While Trump has not started any new wars, one of his first acts was to dramatically escalate America's involvement in Saudi Arabia's near-genocidal war in Yemen, a war so unpopular that he had to veto a bi-partisan war-powers resolution to keep fighting. Meanwhile, from North Korea to China to Venezuela, Trump has been as promiscuous with his threats as he has been with his praise of foreign dictators. If he has rarely backed those threats up with military action, that is not a sign of a dove but of a paper tiger.

As for diplomacy, while Trump has claimed to want better relations with Russia, it's hard to discern any actual improvement there. Instead, America has torn up arms agreements with Russia in the hopes of adding China to them, a gambit which failed, leaving the future of New Start in serious question. The same can be said about North Korea, where Trump's bold diplomatic opening has led nowhere. Chalk these failures up to conflict between Trump and his subordinates, or to Russian and North Korean determination to pursue their own interests, or what have you regardless, a stated eagerness for better relations is not the same thing as achieving them, and the achievement is what's lacking.

The only area where Trump can legitimately point to peacemaking is between Israel and some of its erstwhile adversaries. But it's important to understand what underwrites this peace. In the case of the Gulf States, it was mutual fear of Iran stoked by Obama's nuclear deal that led to a behind-the-scenes working relationship with Israel. And what made it possible to bring that relationship into the open is the weakness of the Palestinian position, and their consequent inability to shape events in the Arab world. Trump surely revealed that weakness by moving the American embassy to Jerusalem, so the world could see that nothing much happened in consequence. If he contributed beyond this, it was by being prepared to ask less than most American presidents would of either party, and to offer more. How is that "America First?"

Which leads me to my largest objection to the characterization of Trump as the peace candidate. It's not just that Trump hasn't actually reduced America's military commitments, or ended any of our ongoing conflicts, or improved American relations with any other powers. It's not just that his idea of a good deal is one that benefits America's defense contractors while leaving us more beholden to allies who can offer us little in exchange for our support. It's that the conception of peace implied by this characterization is too thin to deserve the term. Peace is not merely the absence of current conflict. It is the establishment of relations with other powers on a basis that makes conflict less likely over the long term.

That is an idea that strikes me as entirely beyond President Trump's comprehension, convinced as he is that life is a constant zero-sum struggle for dominance. Of course, that's one way to characterize international relations as well perhaps the most realistic one in our fallen world. But it's one that declares "peace" an impossibility, the only hope being either global hegemony, or a dynamic balancing between different powers punctuated by conflict. If the former is no longer realistic (and I agree it's not), then America needs more than ever a shrewd, knowledgeable statesman at the helm, capable of discerning where our true interests lie and maneuvering to advance them as peacefully and cooperatively as possible. A statesman who will only threaten when necessary, but whose threats are always taken seriously.

If that sounds like Trump to you, then I've got a heck of a deal on a swamp to sell you.

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Is Trump the candidate of peace? - The Week Magazine

(PRESS RELEASE) BOSOTON A medication frequently used to treat diabetic macular edema, which is the most common cause of blindness in people with diabetes, is less effective when used to treat the condition in Black patients, new study results show. Led by researchers at Boston Medical Center, the study demonstrated that Black patients were significantly less likely than white patients to show short-term visual improvement after both a single injection and a series of three injections with the drug bevacizumab (Avastin), the most common treatment in the U.S. for diabetic macular edema. Published in the American Journal of Ophthalmology, the results underscore the need to increase diversity in participation in clinical trials for the treatment of diabetic macular edema in order to develop treatments that are effective for all patients.

This is the first study looking at race as a factor in the treatment of diabetic macular edema, a condition that results from fluid build-up around the macula, producing blurry and distorted vision. Diabetic macular edema is caused by diabetic retinopathy, a complication of diabetes that is the leading cause of blindness among working-age adults in the U.S. Of the approximately 7.7 million Americans who have diabetic retinopathy, it is estimated that 775,000 of those individuals also have diabetic macular edema, which is the leading cause of vision loss for those with diabetes.

The three medications that are most commonly used to treat diabetic macular edema aflibercept, bevacizumab, and ranibizumab were initially developed to treat age related macular degeneration (AMD), which is the number one cause of blindness in older patients and a condition that primarily affects white individuals. After these medications were found to be effective for AMD, they were then studied for the treatment of diabetic eye disease, which disproportionately affects Black patients.

The results from our study show a gap in treatment for Black individuals with diabetic macular edema, despite the fact that they are more heavily impacted by this disease, said Manju Subramanian, MD, an ophthalmologic surgeon at Boston Medical Center and the studys senior and corresponding author. When clinical research trials dont include enough diversity, it will not provide comprehensive data about the efficacy across different racial and ethnic groups, which as we can see, results in disparities in care.

For this study, the researchers focused on bevacizumab (Avastin), given that it is a first-line treatment for diabetic macular edema. They used data from electronic medical records of patients treated for the condition at Boston Medical Center 314 received one injection of the medication, and 151 received the series of three injections of the same medication. After the first injection, 26.71 percent of Black patients compared to 39.39 percent of Hispanic and 50 percent of White patients experienced improved visual acuity. For those who received three injections, 33.82 percent of Black patients compared to 54.76 percent of Hispanic patients and 58.54 percent of white patients experienced improvements in their visual acuity.

According to the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, African American and Black adults are 60 percent more likely to have been diagnosed with diabetes than white, non-Hispanic adults. Evidence points to a variety of factors that play a role in the increased diabetes incidence in Black Americans, including biological risk factors, lower access to health care, and socioeconomic status.

Black individuals represent 13.4 percent of the US population but carry at least twice the prevalence of diabetic macular edema compared to white individuals, and should be represented in future research accordingly, said Subramanian, also an associate professor of ophthalmology at Boston University School of Medicine.

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Common Treatment for Diabetic Macular Edema Not Effective in Black Individuals - InvisionMag

Newswise CHICAGO (October 29, 2020) Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness among working-age adults, yet most Americans over 40 dont know its symptoms or the risk factors for this common sight-threatening condition, according to a survey commissioned by the American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS).

The condition affects nearly 8 million Americans, and that number is expected to double by 2050, but adults over 40 lack fundamental knowledge about diabetic retinopathy that could help save their sight. In fact, the survey found fewer than half of those polled (47%) knew that blurry central vision can be a symptom of diabetic retinopathy and only 37% identified seeing spots or floaters as a known symptom.

While most know that having Type 1, Type 2, or gestational diabetes puts patients at risk of diabetic retinopathy, other risk factors fly under the publics radar. Of those polled, nearly two-thirds (64%) did not know that elevated cholesterol increases the risk of diabetic retinopathy, and nearly half (48%) did not identify high blood pressure as a contributing risk factor.

During Novembers Diabetic Eye Disease Awareness Month, Americas retina specialists urge the public to protect their vision by learning the facts about diabetic retinopathy and adopting healthy habits to preserve healthy sight.

Diabetic retinopathy is a preventable cause of blindness, so early identification and treatment is critical, said ASRS president Carl C. Awh, MD. All health care providers who care for diabetic patients should emphasize the importance of controlling known risk factors and the need for regular dilated retina examinations to identify diabetic retinopathy at an early stage. Many patients with sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy have excellent vision and no symptoms, which is the ideal time for a retina specialist to begin treatment. Diabetic patients with vision loss or symptoms should be evaluated more urgently.

Erik Elliott knows all too well how diabetic retinopathy can steal sight. The 39-year-old father of three was diagnosed with diabetes at age two. Over the years, he made his vision a priority, seeing a retina specialist for regular dilated retina exams since he was a teen. Even still, poor control of his blood sugar over time led to symptoms such as floaters and resulted in severe bleeding in his eye called a vitreous hemorrhage.

He lost significant vision in his right eye and had difficulty reading, driving, and working. He also couldnt help coach his sons baseball team as he struggled with his sight.

Thankfully, Erik contacted his retina specialist immediately when the symptoms occurred, and his vision was restored through surgery and ongoing management of his condition. For Erik, losing vision, even temporarily, has reinforced how critical it is to manage his diabetes and care for his sight to avoid future vision loss.

The ASRS encourages the public to take the following steps to safeguard their sight:

Know the risk factors Anyone who has diabetesincluding Type 1, Type 2, and gestational diabetesis at risk of developing diabetic retinopathy. Additional factors that can increase the risk include:

Know the symptoms Many people have diabetic retinopathy for a long time without symptoms. By the time symptoms occur, substantial damage may have occurred. Symptoms may include:

Protect your vision through prevention Retina specialists encourage those at risk for diabetic retinopathy to actively manage their health and protect their vision by:

Advances in early detection and treatment of diabetic eye disease made possible by retina specialists can preserve sight and virtually eliminate vision loss, said ASRS Foundation President Timothy G. Murray, MD, MBA. If you have diabetes and experience issues with your sight, partner with a retina specialist for expert care that can prevent, treat or reverse damage to the retina from diabetes.

For more information about diabetic retinopathy, visit asrs.org/DiabeticRetinopathy, and tune into ASRSs Retina Health for Life podcast for new episodes on the condition at asrs.org/RetinaPodcast. To find your retina specialist, visit asrs.org/FindYourRetinaSpecialist.

The ASRS survey was conducted by Wakefield Research among 1,000 nationally representative U.S. adults ages 40 and older, between July 20 and July 27, 2020, using an email invitation and an online survey.The data was weighted to ensure an accurate representation of adults ages 40 and older.

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About ASRS

The American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS)is the largest retinal organization in the world, representing more than 3,000 members in all 50 states, theDistrict of Columbia,Puerto Rico, and 63 countries. Retina specialists are board-certified ophthalmologists who have completed fellowship training in the medical and surgical treatment of retinal diseases. The mission of the ASRS is to provide a collegial and open forum for education, to advance the understanding and treatment of vitreoretinal diseases, and to enhance the ability of its members to provide the highest quality of patient care. Learn more atASRS.org. Like ASRS on Facebook, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and follow us on Twitter for the latest retina health information.

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Americans in the Dark on Diabetic Retinopathy Symptoms, Risks, Survey Finds - Newswise

Being colour blind in the context of race, or anywhere else, is not something I would choose.

Colour vision deficiency to give it its medical name means that people find it hard to tell the difference between certain colours. In its most common red-green form, this means that oranges, yellows, browns, reds and greens appear duller than they would to someone with normal vision; red is easily confused with black, purple becomes hard to distinguish.

Think about what that means for peoples experiences of life. Simple activities throw up challenges: picking out which clothes to wear, telling the difference between a ripe or unripe tomato, knowing whether meat is cooked through, identifying traffic light colours and making sense of devices with red/green/orange LED displays.

Think about school for children with colour blindness (often undiagnosed in the early years) where colours are used for learning; or encouraging a child to eat green vegetables when they all look brown. In more severe cases, certain career choices becoming a pilot, electrician or train driver, for example are harder, too.

Around three million people mostly men and boys live with some form of colour blindness in Britain. The majority of people are born with it and usually there is no treatment people just have to find ways to adapt to the condition. Colour blindness impacts arguably our most important sense sight. It limits what we see in the colours of nature and the world around us.

So why would we want to be colour blind when it comes to race?

When I hear people claim not to see a persons colour, I question how that can be true. And then I question why someone would make that claim.

It might seem like a progressive, liberal view one that exists a world where weve moved beyond the debate about race, where people just see people. But we dont live in that world I know that from seeing the experiences of my wife and my four mixed-race children growing up.

Instead, claiming to be colour blind shuts down the discussion. It silences people of colour from articulating their experiences and provides a shortcut to avoid a conversation that many people still find uncomfortable.

Far from being a positive, supportive sentiment, it reveals the (conscious or subconscious) prejudices that make people not want to talk about race in the first place. As a consequence, it blocks attempts to build a better understanding of race and ethnicity, which is the first step in tackling the systemic inequalities that persist in our profession and many others like it.

In journalist Reni Eddo-Lodges words: Not seeing race does little to deconstruct racist structures or materially improve the conditions which people of colour are subject to daily.

When you think about it, it really says to a person of colour that its not ok to be different its not ok to take pride in being black. That essentially implies a need for assimilation.

In the context of Black History Month, it must also mean that we cant celebrate the huge amount of black British culture around us. Do we really want to live in a society where we dont appreciate the heritage and influences in the art, music, film, theatre, writing everything that people of colour contribute to Britain because we dont acknowledge different races and ethnicities? Our heritage is surely a hugely important part of all of us.

I know some people dismiss these arguments as another example of political correctness. But look at the anti-racism demonstrations that have spread across the country this year, listen to peoples real experiences and fears and it becomes clear, I hope, that this is not about wokeness or cancel culture. It is about understanding those different experiences and treating people with humanity and respect.

Black History Month is also, of course, about history understanding the story of race in Britain, both in the distant and recent past. Large chunks of this, as historian David Olusoga writes, have been wilfully forgotten. Most of us know about the civil rights movement in America we know about Martin Luther King Jr and Rosa Parks but we dont know about black British history. This creates a sense that we dont have the same problem with racism here and therefore should stop talking about it. But we cant move forwards unless we understand the past.

So while there is no cure for the medical condition that causes people to see the world with less colour, when it comes to race we have a choice. Each of us as individuals can choose to ignore colour to avoid conversations and stifle understanding or we can choose both to see and celebrate our differences. In my experience, it is seeing and listening that drives us to act.

Paul Flanagan is a partner with Allen & Overy and co-chair of the firms Race and Ethnicity network in London.

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Black History Month: Why would we want to be colour blind when it comes to race? - The Lawyer

A THATCHAM woman has launched a campaign with local traders to wrap support around a little girl diagnosed with an ultra-rare condition.

Nicole Gallaugher is asking people to buy a bow for Addy Clarke a unicorn-loving, smiley, laughy girl with Battens Disease.

Addy, aged four, was diagnosed with the incredibly rare genetic disease that causes dementia, immobility, blindness and early death, a month ago.

There is currently no cure for the disease, which affects roughly 100 children in the world, but a procedure may preserve Addys sight, which Great Ormond Street say could be lost before she turns seven.

Addy is Mrs Gallaughers best friends daughter.

Her parents Hayley and Dave Clarke used to live in Thatcham and were church workers for Glendale Church, but now live in Swindon.

Addy now needs enzyme injections every two weeks for the rest of her life, which may only be another four to six years.

Great Ormond Street could offer the treatment to Addy, as well as the nine other families in the UK facing a Battens CLN2 diagnosis.

Mrs Gallaugher has started a campaign called Bows for Battens, trying to raise 80,000 for the treatment that could preserve Addys eyesight.

She said: Eyesight is particularly important because when Addy is not able to communicate in any other way with her parents any more, its still an important method of communication.

Its not just blindness, its blindness in conjunction with other losses.

Hayley has been my best friend since we were little kids. We have kind of done everything together.

Now we are taking a totally new journey.

Mrs Clarke said: The bows are such a powerful visual symbol of love for our little Addy.

It is a thrill to see cars with bows on knowing that as they go on their journey, they are journeying with us.

It means so very much.

Mrs Gallaugher has teamed up with Best Buds Florist in Thatcham Broadway to kickstart the campaign and is asking people to put a bow on their car bumper as a show of support.

She said: The bows are 5 each; a steep price for a bit of ribbon, a small price for a childs eyesight.

Sweet Imagination in the Kingsland Centre, SA Zim and The White Hart in Thatcham High Street and the Ugly Duckling in Newbury are also selling the ribbons.

One hundred have been made and 30 sold so far, raising more than 500.

Owner of Best Buds Amanda Smith said she felt compelled to help as soon as she heard Addys story.

She said: Being a mum and a nana, you just dontwant to think of any child suffering.

Every spare minute Im making bows.

You just have to try and do your best dont you?

Mrs Gallaugher urged people to back the campaign by either buying a bow from Best Buds Florist or messaging her on Facebook, offering to make bows, or, if shops were able to sell bows on their premises, get in touch.

All money raised will be paid into http://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/nicole-gallaugher

A separate account to support the family has raised more than 56,000 and donations can be made athttps://uk.gofundme.com/f/support-for-addy-and-her-family

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Thatcham campaign launched for 4-year-old with ultra-rare Batten's Disease - Newbury Weekly News Group

Proliferative diabetic retinopathy prevails as leading cause of blindness across industrialized countries worldwide. Although remarkable advancements have been made in the diagnosis and treatment of the disease, several imperative management questions as well as treatment deficiencies continue to persist unanswered. The diabetic pandemic has threatened overwhelming resources and increasing incidences of blindness, which in turn has necessitated the development of actionable programs for diagnosis and treatment of the disease as well as the diseases caused as a consequence of diabetes such as proliferative diabetic retinopathy.

The global proliferative diabetic retinopathy market has been thoroughly analyzed in the latest research report developed by Transparency Market Research, which issues in-depth insights on prominent factors impacting growth of the market. Growth prospects offered in the report are assessed for the period between 2017 and 2026, and the historical analysis on the market has been delivered for the period between 2012 and 2016.

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Global Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy Market Witness Most Promising Rise in Demand:

As a consequence of the pandemic of type 2 diabetes, an outbreak of several diabetic complications, particularly diabetic retinopathy is foreseen by several healthcare institutions and pharmaceutical companies across the globe. Among complications of diabetic retinopathy, proliferative diabetic retinopathy has witnessed a relatively more significant surge worldwide. For example, roughly 1.5% adults suffering from diabetes were affected from proliferative diabetic retinopathy in the U.S. in the recent past.

A recently composed research report of Transparency Market Research has envisaged the global market for proliferative diabetic retinopathy to register a high single-digit CAGR through the forecast period (2017-2026). Revenues from treatment of proliferative diabetic retinopathy around the world are poised to reach roughly US$ 1,000 Mn by 2026-end.

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The rise in disposable income of consumers, coupled with concerns regarding vision loss has rubbed off on spending by patients for availing necessary treatment of diabetic retinopathy. Availability of advanced technology & minimally invasive laser technique that complements faster recovery time is likely to encourage willingness of patients affected from proliferative diabetic retinopathy in adopting surgical treatments.

Key Players of Global Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy Market:

Key companies significantly contributing to growth of the global proliferative diabetic retinopathy market include Intas Pharmaceuticals Limited, Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc., Allergan Plc, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Merck KGaA, Cipla, Ltd., Genentech, Inc. (Roche Holdings), Novartis AG, and Pfizer, Inc.

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Global Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy Market: Emerging Trends, Business Growth Opportunities, Major Driving Factors - The Think Curiouser

PARIS, Oct. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Rarecells, Inc. (USA), a leading Liquid Biopsy company, is pleased to announce thatNational Institute of Integrative Medicine's (Melbourne, Australia) researchers obtained striking results in a group of Australian men using the ISET test for early prostate cancer diagnosis through the detection of Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA)positive Circulating Tumor Cells (CTC).

The peer-reviewed article published in the journalFrontiers in Oncology (article), shows that the prostate cancer test based on CTC harvested with the ISET technology and identified by the Immuno-Cytochemistry (ICC) PSA marker has an estimated positive-predictive-value (PPV) of 99% and negative-predictive-value (NPV) of 97%, providing a more reliable screening test for prostate cancer than the standard PSA blood test (PPV = 25%; NPV = 15.5%).

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer and the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths in men worldwide. Due to the limited sensitivity and specificity of the standard PSA test, a relevant proportion, close to 75%, of unnecessary prostate biopsies are performed every year, generating avoidable costs and suffering.

"This new non-invasive test based on ISET technology allows for early detection of prostate cancer more accurately than the standard PSA test. Improving the accuracy of tests for early cancer detection may reduce the burden of unnecessary biopsies," said NIIM Director of Research, and Chief Investigator Associate Professor Karin Ried.

Davide Brechot, Deputy Director and CTO at Rarecells commented: "NIIM's preliminary data obtained with the ISET technology opens the way to a more reliable prostate cancer screening test driving earlier curative interventions while reducing unnecessary, painful and costly prostate biopsies.They add to the body of published evidence of ISET technology's excellence in cancer diagnostics and management"

ISET has been validated by more than 85 independent scientific publications on 3,400 cancer patients and more than 1,200 cancer-free individuals (see http://www.rarecells.com). It demonstrates unparalleled performance for the isolation and characterization of individual CTC and CTC clusters.

About RARECELLS (www.rarecells.com)

Rarecells develops high value, innovative diagnostic tests in the fields of liquid biopsy and early cancer diagnostics. The company is the exclusive licensee of the ISET patent portfolios owned by University of Paris, INSERM and Assistance Publique-Hpitaux de Paris (AP-HP).

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ISET test results show substantial improvement in early detection of prostate cancer by identifying PSA-positive Circulating Tumor Cells - WFMZ...

When it comes to fighting inflammation with diet, following a specific program is not a necessity. In fact, many of the so-called anti-inflammatory diets are more hype than real science. That said, a couple of diets round up all the anti-inflammatory elements into one eating plan and have more evidence of benefit than other diets. If you aren't sure where to start, these diets are good choices.

People who live in countries ringing the Mediterranean Sea, like Italy and Greece, have traditionally eaten a diet consisting mainly of fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, whole grains, fish, and olive oil the same foods that experts recommend to bring down inflammation. Over the years, researchers began to discover that people who followed this style of eating had lower rates of disease and lived longer than people in the United States who ate a Western-style diet.

The Mediterranean diet is ranked high among doctors and dietitians, and for good reason. Studies show it protects against diseases linked to inflammation, including cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes. And, because it includes a variety of foods, the Mediterranean diet is relatively easy to follow and stick with.

Although its name may suggest the "grab-and-go" section of the supermarket, DASH is anything but a fast-food regimen. DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. It was originally developed to lower blood pressure without medication, but is now widely considered to be one of the healthiest eating patterns around. It includes foods low in total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol, and lots of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Protein is supplied by low-fat dairy, fish, poultry, and nuts. Red meat, sweets, and sugary drinks are limited. DASH is high in fiber, potassium, calcium, and magnesium and low in sodium.

Another anti-inflammatory diet with science to back it up comes from Harvard-educated integrative medicine practitioner Dr. Andrew Weil. He started talking up anti-inflammatory measures decades ago, long before the idea began trending. His anti-inflammatory diet could be described as a Mediterranean diet with Asian influences. About 40% to 50% of calories come from carbohydrates, 30% from fat, and 20% to 30% from protein.

Where Dr. Weil's diet wins is in its emphasis on plant-based foods and healthy protein sources, as well as specific elements (fatty fish, fruits, vegetables, oils, nuts, and seeds) that help to reduce inflammation. It also minimizes highly processed foods, which can contribute to inflammation.

For additional advice about ways to reduce inflammation, read Fighting Inflammation, Special Health Report from Harvard Medical School.

Image: OksanaKiianGetty Images

Disclaimer:As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date of last review or update on all articles. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.

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The best anti-inflammatory diets - Harvard Health - Harvard Health

LOS ANGELES GTs Synergythe beloved and world-renowned Kombucha brand, today announced a partnership withChopra Global, a leading whole health platform founded by Dr. Deepak Chopra. GTs Synergy is the first-ever branded content partner of Chopra Global; the two brands are joining forces in support of GTs recently launched Rooted In Nature campaign to reinforce the message thatholistic health for mind, body, and soul are all rooted in the natural world.

GTs Synergy and Chopra Global aim to provide the world with tools and resources for mental health and wellness maintenance. Starting today, new GTs email subscribers can receive free GTs Synergy Kombucha and a complimentary 1-year membership to Chopra Globals new Meditation and Well-Being App, while supplies last. The Chopra App features a comprehensive library of simple self-care guidance and meditations for mind, body and spirit to help create and sustain a healthier life. Chopra Global launched its app offering in September and is currently available on iOS.

At GTs, everything we do is rooted in our mission to be a guide and helping hand for peoples health & wellness journeys. With Chopra Global by our side as part of our Rooted In Nature campaign, together we can reach even more people to share a message that a healthy mind is just as important as a healthy body, says GT Dave, Founder and CEO of GTs Living Foods. For 25 years, Chopra Global and GTs alike have pioneered our respective industries with approaches inspired by Eastern philosophies and the natural world. Now more than ever, in our increasingly modern lives, so many people are losing that connection to nature and self-care. We are honored and grateful to partner with Chopra Global to emphasize the importance of Mother Nature and meditation as part of a healthier, more holistic way of living.

Many brands market their commitment to the consumers well-being, yet few actually invest in that mission, says Tonia OConnor, CEO of Chopra Global. GTs, like Chopra Global, was founded on the platform of advancing well-being and promoting healthy lifestyles. Offering their subscribers free access to our new well-being and meditation subscription app further demonstrates GTs dedication to serving its customers. We are thrilled to partner with a company that values Chopra Globals self-care guidance and the opportunity to share a co-produced content series with new audiences in different formats.

For more than two decades, Chopra Global has been at the forefront of health and wellness, empowering personal transformation for millions of people worldwide to expand our collective well-being. Anchored by the lifes practice and research of Dr.Deepak Chopra, a pioneer in the fields of integrative medicine, consciousness, and meditation, Chopra Globals signature programs have been proven to improve overall well-being through a focus on physical, mental, and spiritual health.

Additionally, GTs will present a special Chopra Globalco-produced digital meditation series in November that will offer bite-sized guided meditations focused on gratitude and the importance of being in nature. The series will feature Chopra Globals trained and certified instructors along with special appearances fromChopra Global CEO Tonia OConnor, and the health and wellness pioneer himself,GT Dave.

GTs Meditation Series will be completely free and available via GTs and Chopra Globals social channels.

For more information on GTs Living Foods and the Chopra Global partnership, please visit:GTsLivingFoods.com/rootedand follow along on social media: @GTsKombucha.

About GTs Living Foods:

We believe that Mother Nature is the Worlds greatest healer. Since 1995, GTs Living Foods has revolutionized how people think and feel about Kombucha and fermented foods in the Western World. From the womb, founder GT Dave was raised vegetarian and taught that food can be medicine. He continues to uphold that philosophy with always pure, potent, and plant-derived fermented offerings produced in their most authentic form, never compromised. The fiercely independent, family-owned, and operated company is available in over 55,000 retailers across North America and Europe. Today and beyond, GTs Living Foods driving purpose is to spread a global message that food can be medicine and through proper nutrition, one can heal thyself. For more information, please visitgtslivingfoods.com.For more information, interact with the team onFacebook,TwitterandInstagram.

About Chopra Global:

Chopra Global is a leading whole health company that is empowering personal transformation for millions of people globally to expand our collective well-being. Anchored by the lifes practice and research of Dr.Deepak Chopra, a pioneer in integrative medicine, Chopra Globals signature programs have been proven to improve overall well-being through a focus on physical, mental and spiritual health. Chopra Global has been at the forefront of health and wellness for more than two decades with a portfolio that includes an editorial archive of more than 2000 health articles, expansive self-care practices and meditations, a comprehensive mobile app, masterclasses, teacher certifications, immersive live events and personalized retreats. By providing tools, guidance and community, Chopra aims to advance a culture of well-being and make a healthy, peaceful and joyful life accessible to all. For more information, interact with the team onFacebook,TwitterandInstagram.

About Deepak Chopra:

Dr.Deepak Chopraisa world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation. He isthe founder ofChopra GlobalandThe Chopra Foundation, a non-profit entity for research on well-being and humanitarianism.Chopra is a Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at theUniversity of California, San Diegoand serves as a senior scientist with Gallup Organization.For the last thirty years, Chopra has been at the forefront of the meditation revolutionand has authored over 90 books translated into over forty-three languages, including numerousNew York Timesbestsellers.His newest book,Total Meditation(Harmony Book,September 2020) helps to achieve new dimensions of stress-free and joyful living.TIME magazine has described Dr. Chopra as one of the top 100 heroes and icons of the century.

For More Information:https://www.gtslivingfoods.com

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GT's Synergy Teams Up With Chopra Global For First-Ever National Partnership - BevNET.com

Viewers Kati Lucas and Kimberly Horton are joining 3News Meteorologist Jason Frazer on a healthy living journey with Cleveland Clinic's Wellness Center

The Coronavirus pandemic has brought many challenges, and if it's also taken a toll on your physical and mental health, you're definitely not alone.

That's why 3News is launching a new series "The New You" with Jason Frazer and Cleveland Clinic's Wellness Center. And we're inviting two special 3News viewers along for the journey.

Meet Kati Lucas. She's a busy mom of three in her late forties, who also works as a nurse.

"I'm just busy, busy, busy bee running around and dealing with [everything] and then I come last. Then by the time I realize I need to take care of me, I'm dead tired," Kati said.

That's a feeling Kim Horton can relate to. She's in her early sixties, retired for the last few years, but mom to two grown kids and proud grandma to her first grandson. She told us, she's ready to make a change.

"At some point in your life, you got to say it's time out for fear and those things that keep you from moving forward, and maybe this is going to help me move forward."

Kati and Kim both told us the pandemic has brought additional challenges to lifelong struggles with their weight.

"This year's just been challenging on many fronts for me personally and I want to feel better. I'm sick and tired of feeling sick and tired," said Kati.

These are smart successful women. They're active too. Kim told 3News she's always been athletic.

"I consider myself still an athlete [and] my husband and I play tennis at least two or three times a week," she said.

They also are well aware of the importance of making healthy choices.

"[As a nurse] I understand how obesity can lead to inflammation and inflammation can lead to disease and so forth," said Kati.

Yet, like so many of us, both Kati and Kim have struggled to make a lifestyle change until now. That's where Cleveland Clinic's Wellness Center comes in.

"In the center of integrative and lifestyle medicine we try to address not just physical pain or physical symptoms but also look at emotional health," said Dr. Irina Todorov, Interim Medical Director for the Center of Integrative and Lifestyle Medicine.

Over the next eight weeks, Jason, Kati and Kim will have an opportunity to work with the Center to take a mind, body and spirit approach to healthier living.

"The goal of the program is to learn lifelong habits. The first week may be a nutrition consult, the second week will be massage therapy, the third week will be acupuncture, [for example], she said.

"I'm humble enough to admit that I need help...I saw this as a perfect opportunity to to just get my butt ingear and just reclaim a sense of agency about myself," Kati told us.

"Sometimes doggone it, you got to be selfish," laughed Kim. "And just say this is what I have to do for me."

They're ready to go, and we hope you'll follow along too.

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'The New You'| Meet Kati and Kim and follow their health journey - WKYC.com

You might have missed it, but last week the UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that his government was recommending vitamin D supplements as a protective measure against the coronavirus.

But most of the attention focused on Mr Hancocks stumbling around on the issue. One moment he dismissed vitamin Ds usefulness, saying there was no good evidence as to its efficacy.

The next he was touting it as a must-take prophylactic because the evidence was pretty good, after all.

Theres certainly been a fair bit of faffing about on the issue.

A letter published three weeks ago in the British Medical Journal from an Australian doctor tells the story; more than 30 studies have demonstrated that having optimal blood levels of (vitamin D) reduces COVID-19 risks: reduced risk of infection; reduced risk of severe disease; reduced risk of dying.

The doctor, Peter J Lewis, a NSW GP with a special interest in integrative medicine, noted that Many researchers now regard the evidence as overwhelming.

Despite this, there still will be those who say that we need more research, but in the meantime, there is little to be lost and a huge amount to gain by recommending a decent daily dose of vitamin D3 for children and adults.

A comment piece published in Lancet in August made the same point while laying out the long history of vitamin Ds perceived potential as a treatment for respiratory illness. It goes back nearly 90 years.

In a study based at the Hospital Universitario Marqus de Valdecilla, 216 COVID-19 patients had their vitamin D levels measured. More than 80 per cent were found to have a vitamin D deficiency.

On average, men had lower vitamin D levels than women.

OK, one might argue, in the age of sunlight-phobia, that plenty of people are vitamin D deficient. Wheres the comparison with the broader population?

There wasnt one but, the doctors found that the patients with lower vitamin D levels also had raised serum levels of inflammatory markers such as ferritin and D-dimer.

Inflammation being the destructive hallmark of COVID-19, manifesting itself from the tip of the toes, to the lining of the blood vessels, the lungs and deep inside the brain.

Study co-author Dr Jos L. Hernndez, of the University of Cantabria, observed: Vitamin D is a hormone the kidneys produce that controls blood calcium concentration and impacts the immune system.

Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to a variety of health concerns, although research is still under way into why the hormone impacts other systems of the body. Many studies point to the beneficial effect of vitamin D on the immune system, especially regarding protection against infections.

He concludes:Vitamin D treatment should be recommended in COVID-19 patients with low levels of vitamin D circulating in the blood since this approach might have beneficial effects in both the musculoskeletal and the immune system.

He notes that supplements are especially important for high-risk individuals such as the elderly, patients with comorbidities, and nursing home residents, who are the main target population for the COVID-19.

For a technical explanation as to why vitamin D might work against COVID-19, see here.

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Sunshine, salmon and a Spanish study: How Vitamin D affects the coronavirus - The New Daily

TORONTO, Oct. 28, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CB2 Insights (CSE:CBII; OTCQB: CBIIF) (CB2 or the Company), one of the largest multi-specialty healthcare systems in the United States, is pleased to announce that it has completed the asset acquisition of Tacoma-based medical clinic owned by Dr. Jackson (JMC) in University Place, Washington. The acquisition of JMC expands the Companys bricks and mortar and telemedicine services to 15 States.

JMC has been operating in Washington for over 20 years and has a growing patient base of over 10,000 from its operations. Services to patients include primary care and urgent care. Services provided by JMC are primarily reimbursed through insurance carriers including Medicare, Medicaid and other commercial payors. The Company can expect to leverage the expertise of management and operations across its network of existing clinics to further optimize organic growth activities.

The Company anticipates continued growth in patient registrations and visits as JMC continues to thrive among the challenges most clinics have faced due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Further, the Company will work quickly to expand on the current offering of services by leveraging its existing telemedicine infrastructure to provide access to patients across the state of Washington. The Company will also evaluate the current services offered to determine growth in new and complimentary medical services, add new lines of revenue from insurable services, and expand overall patient care. The Company will also launch its subscription-based telemedicine offering at $199/year designed to support the needs of uninsured American with urgent and acute care needs.

Our goal remains committed to establishing a national network of healthcare clinics to help millions of American gain access to affordable and accessible quality care, said Prad Sekar, CEO, CB2 Insights. With the expansion into Washington by way of acquisition, we welcome the opportunity to leverage our multi-disciplinary model to expand quickly on the services delivered by JMC to include telemedicine, sub-specialty, allied health and other complementary services for current and new patients of the practice.

JMC represents the second acquisition by the Company since its recently announced oversubscribed private placement of CAD 5.13 million in September 2020. The acquisition is also part of a 3-pronged growth model which includes growth from the current infrastructure, new services and acquisitions. The Companys experienced management team continues to develop a robust pipeline of accretive and strategic acquisition targets that are revenue generating, profitable and offer significant opportunities for growth. The Company paid a total cash consideration of CAD 0.37 million for JMC. Terms of the transaction include a customary transition by the previous owners for a period of up to 1 year to ensure successful continuity of care for patients in the practice. JMC reported revenues in 2019 of CAD 0.7 million and net income of CAD 0.1 million.

About CB2 Insights

CB2 Insights (CSE:CBII OTCQB:CBIIF) is a healthcare services and technology company, working to positively impact patient health outcomes. The Companies mission to improve the lives of patients through the prevention and treatment of health conditions and using proprietary technology to monitor, assess, and generate insights to help improve patient outcomes. The Company owns and operates a proprietary virtual telehealth platform, and a network of over 30 medical clinics across 14 states in the US, providing multi disciplinary, primary and urgent care services to over 120,000 patients annually.

The Company has created works primarily to roster and treat patients seeking traditional and alternative treatments due to the ineffectiveness of conventional medicine, inability to find support through their existing care network, or in some cases, inability to access a primary care network. The Company offers both primary care via a traditional insurable services model and a disruptive low-cost subscription based urgent care offering for patients seeking immediate need to a healthcare provider via telehealth.

The Company differentiates itself by being one of the largest integrative medical practices in the US that owns its own proprietary technology, data analytical assets, and clinical research expertise to support new market expansion, market access, data collection and analysis and drug discovery.

The Company operates a proprietary electronic health record platform Sail (Sail) to document, treat, monitor and report on patient health outcomes. Developed in 2015, Sail is used internally across all of the Companys clinical operations. Sail features a robust telemedicine platform that the Company uses to provide care to its National patient base. To support patient care and positive health outcomes, the Company is also focused on advancing safety and efficacy research surrounding alternative health treatments by monitoring and assessing Real-World Data (RWD) and providing Real-World Evidence (RWE) through our proprietary technology, data analytics, and a full service contract research organization.

For more information please visit http://www.cb2insights.com or contact:

Investor RelationsJonathan L. Robinson CFAOak Hill Financialjrobinson@oakhillfinancial.ca416-669-1001

Forward Looking Statements

Statements in this news release that are forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning the specific factors disclosed here and elsewhere in CB2s filings with Canadian securities regulators. When used in this news release, words such as "will, could, plan, estimate, expect, intend, may, potential, believe, should," and similar expressions, are forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements may include, without limitation, statements regarding the Companys unaudited financial results and projected growth.

Although CB2 has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements todiffer materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements, there can be other factors that cause results, performance or achievements not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, including, but not limited to: dependence on obtaining regulatory approvals; investing in target companies or projects which have limited or no operating history and are subject to inconsistent legislation and regulation; change in laws; reliance on management; requirements for additional financing; competition; hindering market growth and state adoption due to inconsistent public opinion and perception of the medical-use and recreational-use marijuana industry and; regulatory or political change.

There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate or that management's expectations or estimates of future developments, circumstances or results will materialize. As a result of these risks and uncertainties, the results or events predicted in these forward-looking statements may differ materially from actual results or events.

Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this news release are made as of the date of this release. CB2 disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise such information, except as required by applicable law, and CB2 does not assume any liability for disclosure relating to any other company mentioned herein.

No securities regulator or exchange has reviewed, approved, disapproved, or accepts responsibility for the content of this news release.

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CB2 Insights enters Washington with acquisition of Primary Care Medical Clinic with $0.7 million in Revenue and Positive EBITDA - BioSpace

AUSTIN, Texas Construction workers have a much higher risk of becoming hospitalized with the novel coronavirus than non-construction workers, according to a new study from researchers with The University of Texas at Austin COVID-19 Modeling Consortium.

Analyzing data from mid-March to mid-August on hospitalizations in Austin, Texas, the researchers found that construction workers there were five times as likely to be hospitalized with the coronavirus as workers in other occupations. The finding closely matches forecasts the team made in April.

The current study is, to the authors knowledge, the first to compare COVID-19 hospitalizations of construction workers to non-construction workers.An earlier study by the CDCreported that the construction sector was ranked number two in frequency of workplace outbreaks in Utah.

According to the researchers, the higher vulnerability for construction workers probably stems from the continuation of construction work throughout the pandemic, even during stay-home orders and other community-wide mitigation measures. The nature of the work exacerbated the risks due to close contact with others, practices by employers and demographic factors.

It doesnt necessarily mean we need to stop construction work, said Lauren Ancel Meyers, a professor of integrative biology and director of the consortium. It means we need to go to great lengths to ensure the health and safety of workers when they do go to work.

Encouraging basic precautions such as mask wearing and physical distancing on the work site would help, the authors note, as would having governments or employers offer workers paid sick leave and other incentives to stay home when they have a known exposure or have mild symptoms, to help mitigate risk. In addition, regular work site-based surveillance COVID-19 testing (with effective tracing and isolation of detected cases) can help prevent spread.

In central Texas, construction workers are disproportionately Hispanic, and many of them are uninsured or in close contact with people who have limited access to health care. Compared with the general population, they also experience more underlying health conditions linked to severe cases of COVID-19, are more likely to have more people in the home and may feel pressured to work even when they dont feel well due to socioeconomic pressures.

In Texas, COVID-19 has disproportionately affected Hispanics, who account for about 40% of the states population but 56% of its COVID-19 fatalities, according to the latest data from the Texas Department of State Health Services.

These workers face many overlapping risks and are being exposed at a time when less vulnerable populations are able to stay home, Meyers said.

Across the U.S., construction workers are disproportionately Hispanic: 17.6% of all workers are Hispanic or Latino, yet 30% of construction workers are Hispanic or Latino, according to theU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The studys other authors are Remy Pasco, graduate student in the Meyers lab; Spencer Fox, the consortiums associate director; Clay Johnston, dean of the Dell Medical School and vice president of medical affairs at UT Austin; and Michael Pignone, chair of the Department of Internal Medicine and interim chair of the Department of Population Health at Dell Med.

The results are published in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Network Open, a subsidiary of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

In their earlier study delivered in the spring, at the request of the City of Austin, the team analyzed the risks of allowing construction work to continue during the pandemic. (On March 31, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared all construction essential and permissible statewide, overriding earlier local restrictions.) At the time, the team projected that construction workers would have a 4 to 5 times higher rate of hospitalization than non-construction workers a prediction the new paper bears out.

From mid-March to mid-August, the elevated risk of COVID hospitalization among construction workers matched our model predictions almost to a T, Pasco said. The rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations among construction workers suggest that the virus has been spreading at work sites, and more should be done to protect the health and safety of the workers.

Their model also predicted that continued construction work would increase the rates of hospitalizations among the general public because of increased transmission from construction workers, but with current levels of contact tracing, that is much harder to measure and validate, Meyers noted.

This study was supported, in part, by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health.

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Curbing COVID-19 Hospitalizations Requires Attention to Construction Workers - UT News | The University of Texas at Austin

Dr. Andrew Weil, MD

Andrew Weil, MD,founder and director of theAndrew WeilCenter forIntegrative Medicineat the University of Arizonaand chief science officer for Maui Grown Therapies, will give a free online presentation entitled: Cannabis and the Anti-inflammatory Lifestyle, at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020. A live Q&A will conclude the presentation.

Dr. Weilhas long advocated the anti-inflammatory lifestyle to improve health and wellness. Participants will learn how to reduce inflammation and boost the bodys natural defense mechanisms. Dr. Weil will also discus the compounds in the cannabis plant, such as CBD, THC and terpenes (aromatic oils).

Dr. Weil chairs Maui Grown Therapies stellar Science & Medical Advisory Board and has served as the companys chief science officer since 2015. Heis a clinical professor of internal medicine and founder and director of theWeil Center forIntegrative Medicine at the University of Arizona in Tucson.He earnedbothhis medical degree and his undergraduatedegree in biology (botany) from Harvard University.

Dr.Weil is also a best-selling authorof more than 80 books on health and wellness. He is also the founder ofTrue Food Kitchen, a national restaurant chain that features fresh, seasonal organic ingredients in its dishes. The restaurants are groundedin Dr. Weils philosophy thatfood should makepeoplefeel better, not worse.

Maui Grown Therapies is Hawaiis first state-licensed medical cannabis dispensary. Registration can be completed atwww.mauigrown.com.

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Cannabis and the Anti-Inflammatory Lifestyle, Webinar on Nov. 5 - Maui Now

Melissa Young, MD, is a specialist in integrative medicine at the renowned Cleveland Clinic in the USA. In a recent article at the clinic, the migraine expert explains what people with chronic migraine can do to reduce the frequency and severity of migraine attacks without having to take medication for it.

Migraine sufferers are often struck by a debilitating pain that often forces them to retreat to a dark room and wait for the pain to subside. A specialist will present non-drug options to reduce the frequency and intensity of these attacks.

To escape the pain, migraine sufferers often resort to painkillers such as ibuprofen or prescription drugs. However, according to Dr. Young, this is not always necessary, because there are also natural and drug-free ways to combat migraine headaches. We have to consider nutrition, nutrient supply, sleep, fluid intake and stress, all of which are common triggers for migraines, the doctor explains. The following tips can help cushion the effects of migraines.

According to Dr. Young, the consumption of several small meals throughout the day helps to keep the blood sugar level stable. A stable blood sugar level in turn leads to fewer migraine attacks. With the kind of the nutrition one can orient oneself at the concept of the Mediterranean diet, which has a high portion of fruit, vegetable, beans, lean protein and healthy fats (e.g. from wild salmon, nuts, seeds and olive oil).

Pay attention to the triggers

Certain ingredients that are ingested through the diet are frequent triggers of migraine attacks. For example, caffeine or fried foods are possible triggers for many of those affected. Dr. Young recommends that it is always important to understand what was eaten on the day when a seizure occurs: Watch out for reactions to ripened cheese, chocolate, alcohol and fermented or pickled foods. Experience shows that the following ingredients are often involved:

There seems to be a connection between mitochondrial energy production in your cells and migraine, stresses Dr. Young. In migraines, he says, it is particularly important to consume the right amounts of coenzyme Q10, vitamin B2 and magnesium. Anyone who frequently suffers from migraine attacks should have a doctor check whether a nutrient deficiency exists.

In addition, chiropractic and acupuncture measures as well as massages also have a soothing effect on some migraine sufferers, according to the expert. Further tips can be found in the article: Natural household remedies for headaches. (vb)

Getting a grip on migraine attacks without drugs

Stress in everyday life is also a common trigger for tension headaches. Lifestyle changes and targeted stress management can reduce the number and severity of migraine attacks. I teach my patients meditation, including mindfulness and mantra meditation, says Dr. Young. Diaphragmatic breathing and the so-called 4-7-8 breathing technique are also effective ways to reduce stress.

Herbal therapies, for example with butterbur and feverfew, can also help prevent migraines, Dr. Young recommends. Butterbur can also help with seasonal allergy symptoms. Feverfew dilates the blood vessels and can thus help to prevent migraine attacks.

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Relieve migraine headaches without medication. - The Washington Newsday

Researchers have long known that many people (mostly women) suffering from anorexia face a high risk of death. But, until now, they didnt know what causes the eating disorder to turn fatal.

In a research letter published in the Oct. 26 edition of Nature Metabolism, Yale researchers describe a specific neuron that appears to play an important role in whether anorexia becomes deadly.

They also discovered a potential treatment: a high-fat diet.

Over the last 25 years, our work has focused on understanding what drives hunger, said author Tamas Horvath, the Jean and David W. Wallace Professor of Comparative Medicine and professor of neuroscience and of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences. We wondered if neurons in the brain which are working at a high level when someone is dieting could be participating in some aspect of the disease.

For the study, the researchers looked at a specific neuron that is active during food restriction, called the hypothalamic agouti-related peptide (AgRP), in food-restricted, exercising mice. They found a direct relationship between the workings of the neuron and the animals likelihood of dying. In fact, all animals on a food-restricted, high-exercise diet whose AgRP neurons were inhibited died within 72 hours.

If we diminished these neurons in animals who ate little and exercised compulsively, they died, said Horvath, who is also chair of the Department of Comparative Medicine and director of the Yale Program in Integrative Cell Signaling and Neurobiology of Metabolism.

Lowering levels of these neurons proved fatal, Horvath said, because they are needed to help the body access alternative forms of fuel namely fat in the absence of eating, combined with intense exercise. If these neurons dont function, you are not able to mobilize fuels from fat stores, he said.

But when they provided fatty food to the mice with decreased AgRP activity they found that death [was] completely prevented. This finding could suggest a new tactic for treating anorexia in people, Horvath said. If you are a person dying from anorexia and eat foods containing elevated fat, you may survive, he said.

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that affects mainly adolescent girls. Those with the disorder severely restrict their eating, fear gaining weight, and exercise compulsively. Some 20 million women suffer from anorexia, which has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.

Horvath and other Yale researchers are now extending their research to identify which fats may work best in preventing anorexia from becoming lethal. Many people with this disorder are in the care of medical professionals, and theres an opportunity to bring these findings to the human population, he said.

Other Yale researchers who contributed to the research letter include first author Maria Miletta, postdoctoral associate in comparative medicine; Onur Iyilikci, postdoctoral associate in comparative medicine; Marya Shanabrough, research associate in comparative medicine; Matija Sestan-Pesa, postdoctoral associate in comparative medicine; Caroline Zeiss, professor of comparative medicine; and Marcelo Dietrich, associate professor of comparative medicine and of neuroscience. The work was supported by the Klarman Family Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

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Yale finds neuron behind fatal anorexia, and solution in high-fat diet - Yale News

HIGH POINT, N.C., Oct. 29, 2020 With growing enrollment for the 2020-21 academic year, High Point University welcomed nine new faculty members this year to the Nido R. Qubein School of Communication, Earl N. Phillips School of Business and David R. Hayworth College of Arts and Sciences.

These new faculty members are part of 25 total new faculty members to join HPU this fall. Click here to read more about 16 new faculty members who joined HPUs growing health and sciences programs.

Cameron Zinsou, Visiting Instructor of History

Cameron Zinsou teaches two sections of Foundations of Western Civilization and two sections of American Aspirations, 1914 to Present in HPUs David R. Hayworth College of Arts and Sciences. His area of expertise includes civil and military relations at the local level. He is also a specialist in the Operation Anvil/Dragoon, the allied invasion of southern France in August 1944.

Zinsous current research is about daily life in southern France during World War II. Specifically, hes looking into the definition of occupation and whether or not asovereign nationcan occupy its own citizens' property or possessions.

He previously taught as a teaching assistant at the University of North Texas and teaching assistant and instructor at Mississippi State University. He is also involved in the Society for Military History. He served as the graduate student representative for the Society and in 2017, and the society awarded him with the Allan R. Millett Dissertation Research Fellowship Award for his work.

History is ubiquitous, says Zinsou. It informs the way we live our lives presently, and conversations about our history permeate our daily life. I want to show our students how different people have interpreted separate events through time. I hope to make students aware that history is a living, breathing entity that is constantly revised and contested. The best interpretations of history are evidence-based and built off of the work of previous historians.

Dr. Alec Szalewski, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice

As an assistant professor of criminal justice, Dr. Alec Szalewski teaches a variety of courses, such as probation, parole, and community corrections, in the David R. Hayworth College of Arts and Sciences. Szalewski will be conducting research, advising students and participating in service projects.

His area of expertise includes macro and micro level influences on lethal and non-lethal violence. His recent prior publications focus on homicide, specifically, intimate partner homicide and family homicide.

He earned his Ph.D. with an emphasis on criminology at the University of Central Florida, where he also taught as a graduate teaching associate. During his time at UCF, he also published four peer-reviewed journal articles, presented at conferences, and served as a reviewer for peer-reviewed academic articles. He was a recipient of the Office of Research and Commercialization (ORC) Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Central Florida for the 2017-2018 academic year.

Criminal justice and criminology are a deep topic that do not often have one answer or one perspective, says Szalewski. My goal for the students taking my courses is not only for them to learn the material through deeper discussion and interaction with each other, but to be able to extend that understanding past the basic subject matter. My classes challenge students to critically analyze and understand the topics as a whole and from other perspectives, even those perspectives that may not be agreed with. I believe this not only helps the students better learn the basic subject matter, but it gives them an opportunity to better recognize the concepts and ideas as a whole.

Dr. Abby Broughton, Assistant Professor of French

Dr. Abby Broughton teaches both the beginner and intermediate French series in HPUs David R. Hayworth College of Arts and Sciences. These courses introduce students to Francophone language and culture, help them build a strong foundation in French and are also the gateway into advanced language courses.

Her research focuses on developing the interpretive mode and critical cultural awareness in the French classroom. Most recently, she has been working with social reading technologies to transform students reading experience in French.

She has previously worked in France and holds a Bachelor of Arts in French and International Studies, a Master of Arts in French Language and Literature, and a Ph.D. in French and Second Language Studies. Broughton earned her doctoral degree at Vanderbilt University, where she combined her love of Francophone literature and passion for pedagogy in a degree that focused both on French and Second Language Studies. Broughton taught French while earning her masters and doctoral degrees and has experience in all levels of language study.

The majority of my students are in their first year, so it is exciting for me as a professor to be one of their first points of contact on campus, says Broughton. The skills they learn in these courses will serve them throughout their careers at High Point University and in their own lives as they navigate our interconnected world.

Dr. Humberto Gonzlez Chvez, Assistant Professor of Italian

Dr. Humberto Gonzalez Chavez

Dr. Humberto Gonzlez Chvez is teaching primarily elementary, intermediate and advanced language and culture courses in HPUs David R. Hayworth College of Arts and Sciences. He plans to develop new courses in his area of specialty and to collaborate in HPUs study abroad program in Sicily. Beyond teaching, he will co-lead co-curricular activities such as the Italian Club and the Tavola Italiana. He is currently working to found a chapter of Gamma Kappa Alpha, the national honor society for Italian, and hopes to induct its first class in spring 2021.

Gonzlez Chvez has been teaching Italian language, literature and culture for more than 10 years at universities in the United States and abroad. He has held appointments at Ohio State University, University of North Texas, Baylor University, Charles University in Prague and New York University. He also taught an intensive language course at the Yale School of Architecture. Gonzlez Chvez specializes in late medieval Italian literature with particular interest in Dantes Divine Comedy and Petrarchs Rerum vulgarium fragmenta.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts in music performance from Texas Christian University, a Master of Arts in Italian studies from Ohio State University, a Master of Arts in Italian language and literature from Yale University, and a Master of Philosophy and Ph.D. in Italian literature from New York University.

I hope that I am able to convey to my students that there is nothing that compares to learning to speak and understand another language, says Gonzlez Chvez. It gives you a profound insight into a different culture that you cannot achieve by studying any of its other artifacts. It also prepares you better than anything else for acquiring a deeper appreciation of those very artifacts which are at the center of other fields of inquiry from literature and art to science, political theory and philosophy.

Dr. Rodney Reynolds, Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Dr. Rodney Reynolds teaches in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology in HPUs David R. Hayworth College of Arts and Sciences. His courses focus on social and cultural anthropology, including medical anthropology. He has created and will teach a new honors course in the spring 2020 semester about material culture, which will explore the relationships and meanings that grow out human relationships with things.

Reynolds is an anthropologist and has worked in Latin America over the past few years, specifically in Mexico. While in Mexico, he was funded to explore obesity in family contexts. Last year, he completed a public engagement focused project around mindful walking that explored how well-being is generated through locomotion and attention to ones sensory environment. Reynolds is currently involved in a study with a Peru-based research group that seeks to describe and analyze how COVID-19 and quarantine has impacted people over 60 in one of Lima Perus low income neighborhoods.

He has been teaching and conducting research for more than a decade in anthropology and the social sciences. Reynolds holds a Ph.D. in anthropology and a masters degree in anthropology with a concentration in material culture, both from University College London.

I hope to create a learning environment conducive to inspired and critical dialogue among my students, says Reynolds.

Dr. Tanisha Watkins, Instructor of Communication

Dr. Tanisha Watkins teaches human communication and two graduate courses data decision-making and the MA-CBL Capstone, which are a part of HPUs new Masters in Communication and Business Leadership program. Watkins is also a member of HPUs Institutional Review Boards committee.

Watkins research revolves around improving adolescent sexual health outcomes by creating student-informed sex education curricula and developing social media campaigns. These interests were sparked when Watkins was pursuing her masters degree in the HPUs strategic communication program. Watkins continues to explore adolescent sexual health in school environments, and her current research explores how high school officials can work with local health departments to create, disseminate and evaluate student-informed sexual health curricula.

Her work has been featured at national and international conferences for the National Communication Association, the American Public Health Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality.

She received a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Miami, a Master of Arts in Strategic Communication from HPU and Ph.D. in Consumer Behavior from Purdue University.

Through memorable and lively class discussions, I want to show students how to use language and their voices to make change in the world, says Watkins.

Dr. Candice Edrington, Assistant Professor of Strategic Communication

Dr. Candice Edrington is teaching human communication, public relations techniques and mixed methods research and analysis, which is a graduate course in the strategic communication program, in HPUs Nido R. Qubein School of Communication. She serves on two thesis committees and is responsible for training the department on a new research software, Crimson Hexagon.

She brings experience in both quantitative and qualitative methods to HPU, where she explores digital activism by examining and analyzing the intersections of social movements, strategic communication and social media through a public relations lens. She has a passion for social justice and change that fuels the desire to uncover both visual and textual messaging strategies used in social movements that promote action and build relationships.

Edrington has professional experience in communication and public relations as an adjunct instructor, instructor of record, independent public relations consultant, coordinator of communications, interim academic affairs coordinator and director of engagement. She most recently served as editorial assistant for the Communication Education Journal.

She earned her Ph.D. in communication, rhetoric and digital media with emphasis in digital public relations from North Carolina State University, a masters degree in strategic communication with emphasis in public relations from High Point University, and bachelors degree in business administration with concentration in marketing from Winthrop University.

As an instructor, I hope to not only prepare students for careers in strategic communication and public relations, but to facilitate the co-creation of knowledge through critical thinking, relationship building and hands-on experience, says Edrington. In the classroom, I aim to foster a positive learning space where diversity and inclusion, most of all, and students ideas, are welcomed. High importance is placed on implementing assignments that are not only grounded in theory, but practical in nature.

Nakia Shelton, Assistant Professor of Strategic Communication

Nakia Shelton teaches graphic software packages, infographics, practicum in publicity methods and strategic message development in advertising in HPUs Nido R. Qubein School of Communication.

Her area of expertise includes design thinking, which is a creative problem-solving process that involves empathy and developing a deeper level of understanding about people in order to inform innovative and creative solutions. For her thesis, Shelton used design thinking to explore burnout among designers in the workplace and propose solutions.

This is Sheltons first position in academia, but she brings 15 years of experience as a designer and design manager in public and private sector institutions and companies. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in art with a concentration in graphic design from Longwood University. She earned her Master of Fine Arts in design thinking from Radford University.

By integrating and imparting my industry experience, I hope to provide real-world context to the subject matter through hands-on, interactive learning, while also encouraging and supporting students in reaching their full creative potential, says Shelton.

Dr. Greg Page, Assistant Professor of the Practice of Healthcare Management

Dr. Greg Page brings extensive experience in healthcare management to High Point Universitys Earl N. Phillips School of Business at a most opportune time with the creation of the new minor in healthcare management and a specialization in healthcare management within the MBA program. His areas of expertise include patient satisfaction, process improvement, lean processes, patient safety, revenue cycle operations and physician relations.

Over the last 23 years, Pages experience includes pharmaceutical sales, working in the start-up company that became Minute Clinic, serving as the healthcare administration officer onboard a nuclear powered aircraft carrier, a leadership position in revenue cycle operations in the Texas Medical Center and serving as the chief operating officer of a 125-bed community hospital. Page has also held leadership positions in post-acute care at a continuing care retirement community and at a rehabilitation and nursing center in the UNC Health System.

Page received the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal for Meritorious Service while onboard the USS Nimitz during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Page earned his doctorate in public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; his MBA and Master of Healthcare Administration at the University of Minnesota; and his bachelors degree in economics at Southwestern University in Georgetown. He is also a fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE). Pages current and previous affiliations and board memberships include: board member American College of Healthcare Executives, Raleigh, North Carolina, Chapter; board member American College of Healthcare Executives, Charlotte, North Carolina, Chapter; board member of the Masters in Healthcare Administration Advisory Board, UNC-Charlotte; Health Reach Community Clinic, Integrative Medicine Task Force volunteer; Virginia B. Andes Volunteer Community Clinic, committee chair; and board member American Association of Healthcare Administrative Management, Texas, Chapter.

At High Point University, every student receives an extraordinary education in an inspiring environment with caring people. HPU, located in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina, is a liberal arts institution with 5,600 undergraduate and graduate students. It is ranked No. 1 by U.S. News and World Report for Best Regional Colleges in the South, No. 1 for Most Innovative Regional Colleges in the South and No. 1 for Best Undergraduate Teaching in the South. The Princeton Review named HPU in the 2021 edition of The Best 386 Colleges and on the Best Southeastern Colleges 2021 Best Colleges: Region by Region list. HPU was recognized as a Great School for Business Majors and a Great School for Communication Majors. HPU was also recognized for Best College Dorms (No. 1), Most Beautiful Campus (No. 9), Best Career Services (No. 19) and Most Active Student Government (No. 19). For 10 years in a row, HPU has been named a College of Distinction with special recognition for career development, business and education programs, and The National Council on Teacher Quality ranks HPUs elementary education program as one of the best in the nation. The university has 60 undergraduate majors, 63 undergraduate minors and 14 graduate degree programs. It is a member of the NCAA, Division I and the Big South Conference. Visit High Point University on the web at highpoint.edu.

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HPU Announces New Faculty in Arts and Sciences, Communication and Business - Yes! Weekly