StemCell Therapy

Parasite infections are a constant presence for many people who live in tropical regions, particularly in less industrialized areas. These often chronic conditions are at best unpleasant; more seriously, children with parasite diseases that cause diarrhea can die of malnutrition or dehydration.

In Genome Biology, a study led by University of Pennsylvania scientists investigated the links between parasite infection and the gut microbiome. Using genetic methods to characterize the gastrointestinal microbiome of 575 ethnically diverse Cameroonian people representing populations from nine villages with meaningful differences in lifestyle, the researchers discovered that the presence of parasites was strongly associated with the overall composition of the microbiome.

We found that we could look at someones microbiome and use it to predict whether someone had a gastrointestinal parasite infection, says Meagan Rubel, who completed her doctorate degree at Penn and is now a postdoc at the University of California, San Diego. Whether or not it was parasites changing the microbiome or something in the resident microbiota of a person that made them more susceptible to infection, we cant say, but the association was strong.

Rubel led the study in collaboration with Penns Sarah Tishkoff, a Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor in the Perelman School of Medicine and School of Arts and Sciences, and Frederic Bushman, a microbiologist in the medical school. In addition to the microbiome and parasites, the research also examined markers of immune function, dairy digestion, and pathogen infection, a rich dataset.

The investigation entailed six months of field work, collecting fecal and blood samples from Mbororo Fulani pastoralists, cattle herders with a diet high in meat and dairy; Baka and Bagyeli rainforest hunter-gatherers, who practice a limited amount of farming but also forage for meat and plant-based foods; and Bantu-speaking agropastoralists, who both grow crops and raise livestock. As a comparison group, the study included data from two groups of people living in urban areas of the United States, with a diet heavier in animal fats, proteins, and processed foods.

In the field, the researchers tested for malaria and a number of other pathogens that infect both the blood and gastrointestinal system.

Of the 575 people tested in Cameroon, the researchers found nearly 40% were infected with more than one parasite before receiving an antiparasitic treatment, with hunter-gatherers, on average, most likely to be co-infected with multiple parasites. In particular, the team found that four soil-transmitted gut parasites tended to co-occur at a rate much higher than chance: Ascaris lumbricoides, Necator americanus, Trichuris trichiura, and Strongyloides stercoralis, or ANTS.

Gut parasites are a global public health concern, says Rubel. And you tend to see several of these parasites together in resource-poor settings where people may not have access to clinical care, piped water, and soap, so theres more opportunity for them to be transmitted.

Back in the lab at Penn, the researchers used genomic sequencing tools to take a snapshot of the participants gut microbiomes. The composition of the microbiome, they found, could accurately predict a persons country (U.S. or Cameroon) and lifestyle (urban, pastoralist, agropastoralist, or hunter-gatherer). But after these two variables, the presence of ANTS parasites could be predicted with greater accuracy by the microbiome structure than any other variable the research team studied. Taken together, the microbiome could predict the presence of these four gut parasites with roughly 80% accuracy.

Infection with these parasites also led to upticks in immune system activation, specifically turning on pathways that promote inflammatory responses. Parasite infection was also associated with a greater likelihood of having bacteria from the order Bacteroidales, which are known to play a role in influencing digestion and immune system function.

In a second part of the study, the Penn-led team assessed the relationship between the gut microbiome and milk consumption in the Fulani pastoralist population. Earlier work by Tishkoff and colleagues illuminated how genetic mutations enabling lactose digestion arose in pastoralist communities in Africa, selected through evolution because of the important nutritional benefits of consuming dairy.

In looking at the Fulanis microbiomes, they also tended to have an abundance of bacterial genes capable of breaking down galactose, a component of lactose, and fats, compared to other groups. This enrichment of genes could help you extract more nutrition from the food you eat, Rubel says.

The researchers believe their findings, the largest-ever study on the link between gut microbiome composition and parasite infection from sub-Saharan Africa, can open new possibilities for future work. The kinds of microbiome markers we found could be useful to predict the type of pathogens you have, or to shed light on the interplay between the microbiome and the immune system, says Rubel.

Eventually, she adds, more research could even illuminate strategies for purposefully modulating the microbiome to reduce the risk of a parasite infection or minimize the harm it causes to the body.

This research was supported in part by the Lewis and Clark Fund, University of Pennsylvania, Leakey Foundation, Wenner-Gren Foundation, National Institutes of Health (grants AI007532-18, DK104339-01, GM113657-01, GM134957-01, HL113252, HL137063, HL098957, HL087115, and HL115354), National Science Foundation (grants 1540432 and 1317217), American Diabetes Association, Penn Center for AIDS Research, and PennCHOP Microbiome Program.

Rubel, Bushman, and Tishkoffs coauthors on the paper were Penn Medicines Arwa Abbas, Louis J. Taylor, and Andrew Connell; the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphias Ceylan Tanes and Kyle Bittinger; the Johns Hopkins Cameroon Programs Valantine N. Ndze; the Yaound Central Hospitals Julius Y. Fonsah and Alfred K. Njamnshi; the University of Yaounds Eric Ngwang and Charles Fokunang; and the Mbalmayo District Hospitals Andr Essiane.

Frederic Bushman is the William Maul Measey Professor in Microbiology in the Perelman School of Medicine at Penn.

Meagan Rubel earned her Ph.D. from Penn and is now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, San Diego.

Sarah Tishkoff is the David and Lyn Silfen University Professor and aPenn Integrates Knowledge Professorat Penn, with appointments in the Department of Genetics in thePerelman School of Medicineand the Department of Biology in theSchool of Arts & Sciences.

Link:
Parasites and the microbiome - Penn: Office of University Communications

Dublin, June 12, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Personalized Medicine, Targeted Therapeutics and Companion Diagnostic Market to 2025 - Strategic Analysis of Industry Trends, Technologies, Participants, and Environment" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This comprehensive report examines the precision medicine industry and its impact on the health system. This report tackles the growing market interest in pharmacogenomics, targeted therapeutics, companion diagnostics, and the associated market environment.

This report describes the current technologies that are propelling the personalized medicine and companion diagnostic market. It examines the current genetic diagnostic tests and companion diagnostic assays that are in use by the medical and pharmaceutical industry today. Current developments in personalized medicine and the pharmacogenomics revolution are discussed. The emerging trends that appear in key markets such as the US, UK, Germany, and France are elucidated and analysed. This study reveals market figures of the overall personalized medicine market and also sub-market figures.

The study also provides a comprehensive financial and product review of key players in the personalized medicine industry. Strategic drivers and restraints of this market are revealed and market opportunities and challenges are identified.

In summary, the personalized therapeutic and associated companion diagnostic market have huge opportunities for growth. This industry is revolutionizing the healthcare system and will improve therapeutic effectiveness and reduce the severity of adverse effects. It has enormous potential for investment and the emergence of genetic-based in vitro diagnostics. This is a comprehensive account of the market size, segmentation, key players, SWOT analysis, influential technologies, and business and economic environments.

The report is supported by over 360 tables & figures over 470 pages. The personalized medicine market is presented as follows:

A wealth of financial data & business strategy information is provided including:

SWOT, Economic & Regulatory Environment specifics include:

This report highlights a number of significant players and influential company's and gives details of their operations, products, financials and business strategy:

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

About ResearchAndMarkets.comResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

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Global Strategic Analysis of the Personalized Medicine, Targeted Therapeutics and Companion Diagnostic Market 2020-2025 - GlobeNewswire

The HIV virus can take refuge in the brain even when treated with antiretroviral therapies, only to later infect other organs in the body if that treatment is stopped, a new study in mice and human tissue suggests.

Untreated HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, cripples the immune system and leaves the body vulnerable to life-threatening illness. Combination antiretroviral therapy, or cART, can significantly lower concentrations of the virus in the body, to the point that the pathogen can become undetectable, symptoms largely disappear and the treated person is no longer infectious to others. But cART must be taken daily, and if treatment pauses, the virus may reemerge from hidden sanctuaries in the body.

The new study, published June 11 in the journal PLOS Pathogens, suggests that one of these hideouts is in brain cells called astrocytes. Astrocytes constitute roughly 60% of the total cells in the human brain, according to the report, and in an infected person, the study authors estimate that between 1% and 3% of these cells could harbor HIV.

Related: Going viral: 6 new findings about viruses

"Even 1% could be significant as a reservoir, as a sanctuary site, for the virus," said study author Lena Al-Harthi, a professor and chair in the Department of Microbial Pathogens and Immunity at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. "If we're going to try to find an HIV cure, you can't neglect the role of the brain as a reservoir."

Al-Harthi and her colleagues drew their conclusions from a mouse model of HIV injected with human cells, as well as examinations of postmortem human brain tissue. While both experiments provide insight into the role of astrocytes in HIV infection, more work must be done to nail down exactly how the virus takes hold in human patients, an expert told Live Science.

"Animal models can tell us quite a bit. They're not humans, but they can inform us quite a bit," said Dr. Lishomwa Ndhlovu, a professor of immunology in medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, who was not involved in the study. If astrocytes can act as a reservoir for HIV in human infection, and that virus can exit the brain and trigger infection elsewhere, as the mouse study indicates, "we do need to figure out how to eliminate the virus from these compartments" to devise a successful cure, he said.

Astrocytes, named for their star-like shape, come in a variety of subtypes and play critical roles in the central nervous system, according to BrainFacts.org, a public information initiative run in part by the Society for Neuroscience. The cells help deliver nutrients to neurons, or the brain cells that transmit electrical signals, and they can spur or subdue inflammatory reactions in the brain. Astrocytes also shape and maintain the wiring of the central nervous system and fortify the blood-brain barrier, a border of tissue separating circulating blood from brain cells.

Scientists knew that the HIV virus infiltrates the brain during infection, as infected people can develop dementia and other cognitive deficits.

"The role of astrocytes in HIV infection has always been controversial," Al-Harthi told Live Science. Previous studies suggested that the star-shaped cells can become infected with HIV, but much of the research used cells in petri dishes, which may not replicate infection processes in a living animal, Al-Harthi wrote in a 2018 report published in The Journal of NeuroVirology. A few studies have utilized live animals but used "traditional" methods, such as tagging viral proteins or genetic material with fluorescent compounds, to scan for the virus that may not be sensitive enough to accurately detect the low levels of HIV present in astrocytes. No study attempted to address whether, once infected, astrocytes could somehow release HIV to organs beyond the brain.

Al-Harthi and her team developed two new mouse models to address this crucial question.

Related: Top 10 mysterious diseases

First, the authors placed human fetal astrocytes, derived from extracted brain tissue, in petri dishes and infected those cells with HIV. They then injected the infected cells into the brains of lab mice, one set of newborn mice and one set of adult mice. They found that, in both sets of mice, the infected astrocytes passed on the virus to CD4 cells a type of immune cell that helps orchestrate the body's immune response and are specifically targeted by the HIV virus.

After picking up an infection from astrocytes, infected CD4 cells migrate out of the brain and into other tissues. When "the brain is already seeded, the virus can come out and reseed peripheral organs," Al-Harthi said.

In particular, the authors noted that the spleen and lymph nodes become infected as a result of this process. By blocking the movement of CD4 cells, the authors could cut this chain of viral transmission.

To ensure that the virus could infect astrocytes on its own, without their assistance, the authors also ran an experiment in which they injected healthy human astrocytes into mice and infected the animals with HIV afterward. In this scenario, some human astrocytes still became infected and released HIV into the rest of the body. Notably, the virus could still escape from the brains of mice given cART treatment, "albeit at low levels" compared to untreated mice. If the treatment was stopped, the virus from the brain triggered a full-blown infection.

To confirm aspects of their mouse experiments, the authors examined the donated brains of four HIV-infected individuals, all of whom received effective cART treatment. (The report did not specify how each donor died, but noted that the virus was effectively suppressed by cART at the time of death.) The team found that a small percentage of astrocytes contained HIV genetic material in their nuclei, indicating that the cells had been infected.

Many questions about astrocytes and HIV remain to be answered. For instance, certain subtypes of astrocytes may serve as reservoirs of HIV, while others don't, Al-Harthi said. And while the mouse experiments demonstrated that HIV can exit the brain, the postmortem tissue analysis could not confirm that the same occurs in humans.

"Animal models, none of them are perfect," so there may be differences in how infection unfolds in people, Al-Harthi said.

For example, during natural HIV infection, the virus can accumulate genetic mutations each time it replicates, and the genetic material required for infection can be lost in the process, Ndhlovu said. To fully understand the role of astrocytes in HIV, researchers will need to determine how much of the virus present in human astrocytes can actually trigger infection, he said.

Al-Harthi and her team began to address this question by examining postmortem brain tissue and analyzing what segments of HIV genetic material could be found within but further studies will need to confirm that the found virus is both able to infect cells and migrate to other organs in the body, Ndhlovu said. In addition, scientists will need to determine the exact route HIV takes out of the brain in order to infect other organs, as that information would also be crucial for developing treatments that target the brain and finding a successful cure, he added.

Originally published on Live Science.

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HIV may hide out in brain cells, ready to infect other organs - Live Science

The increasing incidence of genetic disorders and chronic diseases is one of the biggest factors responsible for the burgeoning sales of regenerative medicine throughout the globe. The rising adoption of sedentary lifestyles and unhealthy dietary habits of the people all around the world are the main reasons causing the high prevalence of chronic diseases across the world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), almost 17.9 million deaths are recorded every year because of cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, the cardiovascular diseases account for nearly 31% of the total deaths occurring across the world every year.

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The other major factors propelling the demand for regenerative medicine are the soaring investments being made by the governments of many countries in research and development activities in the domain of regenerative medicine, surging number of regenerative medicine companies throughout the world, and rapid technological developments in tissue engineering areas and stem cell research. Due to these factors, the global regenerative medicine market is expected to exhibit huge expansion over the coming years.

Across the globe, the regenerative medicine market is predicted to record the fastest growth in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region in the upcoming years. This is mainly credited to the improving healthcare facilities and infrastructure in the region and the subsequent rise in stem cell research in the developing nations of APAC. For instance, the Chinese government has recently approved R&D activities pertaining to the human embryonic stem cells, which has in turn, encouraged more research on the clinical potential of the stem cells in the country.

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This study covers

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Global Regenerative Medicine Market By Type, Therapy, Application and Forecast Report by 2030 - Cole of Duty

- Treatment with TTP399 resulted in significant improvements in HbA1c with reduction in insulin, without increasing risk of hypoglycemia or diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) -

HIGH POINT, N.C., June 13, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- vTv Therapeutics Inc.(Nasdaq: VTVT) today made two presentations at the American Diabetes Associations 80th Scientific Sessions. The clinical data presented from the positive Phase 2 Simplici-T1 Study confirms the potential for TTP399 to provide a benefit beyond standalone insulin treatment for patients living with type 1 diabetes.

These results from the Simplici-T1 Trial are a major step towards the future of care in type 1 diabetes. They demonstrate that TTP399, a once-a-day pill, reduces HbA1c and improves time in range, without increasing hypoglycemia or any signal for adverse events including diabetic ketoacidosis, said John Buse, MD, Director of the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute and of the Diabetes Center at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. Despite advances in insulin and type 1 diabetes technologies, affected patients continue to have difficulty achieving optimal glucose control. A safe and effective oral adjunctive therapy would be an important tool for patients and treating endocrinologists to improve both the daily burden of T1D and its long-term outcomes.

A copy of the poster presentations is available on the company website at http://vtvtherapeutics.com/publications/.

Details of the presentations follow:

Late Breaking Poster Presentation: Poster #122-LB, The Simplici-T1 Trial: Glucokinase Activator TTP399 Improves Glycemic Control in Patients with Type 1 Diabetes.

Presenter: John Buse, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute and of the Diabetes Center at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine

Key results presented included:

Late Breaking Poster Presentation: Poster #123-LB, The Simplici-T1 Trial: Relationship between Glycemic Control and Insulin Dose

Presenter: Carmen Valcarce, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, vTv Therapeutics

Key results presented included:

The treat-to-target (FPG: ~80-130mg/dL; post meal glucose: <180-200 mg/dL) design of the study allowed changes in insulin dose after the insulin-optimization period. To evaluate the effect of these insulin adjustments on HbA1c, several pre-planned analyses were performed grouping the participants according to their change in total insulin doses (decreased, stable or increased).

About the Simplici-T1 StudySimplici-T1 was a multi-center, randomized, double-blind, adaptive study assessing the safety and efficacy of TTP399 as an adjunct to insulin therapy in adults with T1D. The primary endpoint was the change in HbA1c at week 12. The study was conducted with support from JDRF, the leading global organization funding research in type 1 diabetes.

This Phase 2 learn-and-confirm study was conducted in two parts under a treat-to-target protocol to evaluate the safety and efficacy of TTP399 in T1D patients over 12 weeks of daily dosing following a multi-week insulin optimization and placebo run-in period. Part 1 enrolled 19 patients on both insulin pumps and CGMs. The positive topline results from the learning phase - Part 1 were reported inJune 2019. The confirming phase - Part 2, enrolled 85 patients that used either insulin pumps or multiple daily injections of insulin; CGMs were allowed for those patients using the devices for at least three months prior to the start of the study. The positive topline results from Part 2 of the SimpliciT-1 Study were reported in February 2020.

About Type 1 DiabetesType 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease in which a persons pancreas stops producing insulin, a hormone that enables people to get energy from food. It occurs when the bodys immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, called beta cells. While its causes are not yet entirely understood, scientists believe that both genetic factors and environmental triggers are involved. Its onset has nothing to do with diet or lifestyle. There is nothing you can do to prevent T1D, andat presentnothing you can do to cure it.

AboutvTv TherapeuticsvTv Therapeutics Inc.is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing oral small molecule drug candidates. vTv has a pipeline of clinical drug candidates led by programs for the treatment of type 1 diabetes, Alzheimers disease, and inflammatory disorders. vTvs development partners are pursuing additional indications in type 2 diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and genetic mitochondrial diseases.

Forward-Looking StatementsThis release contains forward-looking statements, which involve risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms anticipate, believe, could, estimate, expect, intend, may, plan, potential, predict, project, should, target, will, would and, in each case, their negative or other various or comparable terminology. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this release, including statements regarding the timing of our clinical trials, our strategy, future operations, future financial position, future revenue, projected costs, prospects, plans, objectives of management and expected market growth are forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause our results to vary from expectations include those described under the heading Risk Factors in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and our other filings with theSEC. These forward-looking statements reflect our views with respect to future events as of the date of this release and are based on assumptions and subject to risks and uncertainties. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements represent our estimates and assumptions only as of the date of this release and, except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or review publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise after the date of this release. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause our views to change. Our forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future acquisitions, merger, dispositions, joint ventures or investments we may undertake. We qualify all of our forward-looking statements by these cautionary statements.

Nura StrongVP of Business Developmentnstrong@vtvtherapeutics.com

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vTv Therapeutics Presents Two Late-Breaking Poster Sessions on Simplici-T1 Study at the American Diabetes Association's Virtual Sessions Supporting...

Thats the beauty of these DNA vaccines, said Wolfgang W. Leitner, the chief of the innate immunity section at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. They are simple and fast in terms of development.

Nor are vaccine scientists concerned about the supposed secret sauce. In fact, its quite the opposite: They are skeptical precisely because the technology behind DNA vaccines has been around for decades and has been applied toward so many infectious diseases H.I.V., the flu, malaria yet none of the vaccines have made it to market.

They believe that this approach is capable of producing immunity. Already, DNA vaccines have been licensed for use in pigs, dogs and poultry. But the big if, according to Dr. Dennis M. Klinman, a vaccine scientist who worked at the Food and Drug Administration for 18 years, is whether one will ever be able to generate strong enough an immune response in humans.

Even though Ms. Wiley had read the packet on the science of it all, the next step felt like entering uncharted territory.

Shortly after the initial injection, a nurse handed Dr. Ervin a device resembling an electric toothbrush. He pressed the head which contains three tiny needles instead of bristles over the raised skin on her arm, where shed just had a shot. Then he zapped her.

It was not painful, but its unlike anything Ive ever experienced, Ms. Wiley said.

The carefully calibrated electrical pulses basically steer the DNA into the cells by briefly opening up pores in their membrane, according to David B. Weiner, the director of the vaccine and immunotherapy center at the Wistar Institute and an adviser to Inovio.

Although it may sound fantastical, the technology, called electroporation, dates to the 1980s, when a similar approach was first used to make transgenic plants, according to Dr. Leitner.

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Guaranteed Ingredient in Any Coronavirus Vaccine? Thousands of Volunteers - The New York Times

The coronavirus pandemic has pushed health to the forefront of many peoples minds. And while the best way to avoid COVID-19 is not to catch the virus in the first place, were starting to understand why some people become seriously ill with the disease while others have only mild or no symptoms.

Age and frailty are the most important risk factors for severe COVID-19, but data from our COVID Symptom Study app, used by nearly four million people, has shown that diet-related conditions, such as obesity, heart disease and type 2 diabetes, are significant risk factors for ending up in hospital with the disease.

In the UK, around one in three adults are obese and many more are overweight. In the US, around two in five adults and nearly one in five children are obese. From generalised government nutritional guidelines to Instagram-worthy fad diets, theres no end of advice on how to lose weight. Clearly, it isnt working.

This is a complex problem to unpick. Factors such as sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic status and availability of healthy food all play a part. But on an individual level, we still understand relatively little about how each person should eat to optimise their health and weight.

In search of answers, our research team at Kings College London together with our colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital, Stanford University and health science company ZOE launched PREDICT, the largest ongoing nutritional study of its kind in the world. Our first results have now been published in Nature Medicine.

PREDICT-1, the first phase of the PREDICT research programme, involved more than 1,000 adults (including hundreds of pairs of twins) who were continuously monitored for two weeks to discover how they respond to different foods.

Participants had an initial set-up day in hospital for detailed blood measurements and testing of responses after eating carefully designed set meals. They then carried out the rest of the study at home, following a schedule of set meals and their own free choice of foods. We measured a wide range of markers of nutritional responses and health from blood glucose, fat, insulin and inflammation levels to exercise, sleep and gut bacteria (microbiome) diversity.

This kind of detailed, ongoing analysis was made possible through the use of wearable technologies. These included continuous blood glucose monitors and digital activity trackers, which meant we could keep track of our participants blood sugar and activity levels 24/7. Simple finger-prick blood tests also allowed us to measure their blood fat levels on a regular basis.

All these measurements added up to millions of datapoints, which needed to be analysed with sophisticated machine learning techniques (a type of artificial intelligence) in order to spot patterns and make predictions.

The first thing we noticed was the wide variation in individual insulin, blood sugar and blood fat responses to the same meals, even for identical twins. For example, one twin might have healthy responses to eating carbohydrates but not fat, while the other twin is the opposite. Straight away, this tells us that we are all unique and that there is no perfect diet or correct way to eat that will work for everyone.

The observation that genetics only plays a minor role in determining how we respond to food also tells us that simple genetic tests claiming to determine the right diet for your genes are ineffective and misleading. Curiously, identical twins only shared around a third of the same gut microbe species, which may help to explain some of the variation in nutritional responses and also points towards an opportunity to improve health and weight by manipulating the microbiome.

We also discovered that the timing of meals affects nutritional responses in a personalised way. The same meal at breakfast caused a different nutritional response in some people when eaten for lunch. But in other people there was no difference, busting the myth that there are correct mealtimes that will work for all.

Another surprise was finding that the composition of meals in terms of calories, fat, carbohydrates, proteins and fibre (macronutrients or macros) also had a highly individualised effect on nutritional responses. Some people handle carbs better than fat, for example, while others have the opposite response. So prescriptive diets based on fixed calorie counts or macronutrient ratios are too simplistic and will not work for everyone.

However, despite the wide variability between participants, each persons own responses to identical meals eaten at the same times on different days were remarkably consistent. This makes it possible to predict how someone might respond to any food based on knowledge of their underlying metabolism.

Intriguingly, we found that the levels of inflammatory molecules in the blood varied by up to tenfold, even in seemingly healthy people, and that a rise in these inflammation markers was linked to having unhealthy responses to fat.

We use the term dietary inflammation to refer to these unhealthy metabolic effects that are triggered after eating. Repeatedly experiencing dietary inflammation brought on by excessive blood sugar and fat responses is linked with an increased risk of conditions such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and obesity.

On a more positive note, our findings suggest that it might be possible to improve weight management and long-term health by eating in a more personalised way designed to avoid triggering unhealthy inflammatory responses after meals.

When it comes to weight, weve traditionally put a huge emphasis on factors we have no control over, especially genetics. The fact is, while genetics plays a role, many more important factors affect how our metabolism, weight and health. Its time to move away from overly generalised guidelines, fad diets and one-size-fits-all plans and develop more personalised, scientific approaches to nutrition that understand and work together with our bodies, not against them.

For more on personalised nutrition, download and listen to our podcast, Medicine made for you, a series by The Anthill.

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Why one-size-fits-all diets don't work new study - The Conversation UK

Dear Rusty: We served overseas for several years, not earning many quarters for Social Security. However, we have made sure that we paid in over time so we can receive a benefit, but it will not amount to much. For the past several years now, we have been back in the U.S., earning some professional salaries. Now it looks like at full retirement age my husband will get $1,147 per month, and I will get $1,026 per month. I was born in 1957 and my husband in 1956.

Question #1: For the most financial benefit, when should we each start collecting SS (either now or at full retirement age)? And question #2: Will our amounts change because we are married and both collecting? Signed: Overseas Worker

Dear Overseas Worker: To answer your second question first, no, your benefit amounts will not change because you are married and both collecting. Based upon the numbers you provided, neither of you will be eligible for a spousal boost from the other because your benefit amounts at your full retirement age (FRA) are too similar, so maximizing your individual benefits should be your goal.

As for your other question, when you should start collecting depends upon a number of factors, including your financial needs and, importantly, your expected longevity. Both of you can get the maximum benefit available to you by waiting until you are 70 years old to claim, but that only makes sense if you are in good health and expect at least average longevity (about 84 for a man and 87 for a woman).

If you claim benefits before you reach your full retirement age (66 for you and 66 plus 4 months for your husband), those benefits will be cut. If you collect now, your benefit would be cut by about 27% and your husbands by about 22% (based upon your respective years of birth). Further, if you claim before your full retirement ages and continue to work, youll be subject to Social Securitys earnings test, which limits the amount you can earn before they take back some of your benefits (the 2020 earnings limit is $18,240; if you exceed that theyll take back half of anything you earn over the limit). The earnings limit changes annually but goes away at your FRA.

At your full retirement ages, youll be entitled to 100% of the benefits youve earned from your lifetime of working (approximately the amounts estimated now). If you can and do wait beyond your FRA, for each month you delay youll earn delayed retirement credits of 2/3 of 1% per month of delay (8% per year of delay), up to age 70 when your maximum benefit is reached. As a point of information, if you wait until your full retirement age to claim, you will have collected the same amount of money at age 78 as if you had claimed at age 62; and if you wait until age 70 to claim youll have collected the same amount of money at age 82 as if you had collected at your full retirement age. If you live at least until average longevity, youll collect more in cumulative Social Security benefits by waiting.

So, when should you claim? If youre still working and earning professional salaries, then waiting at least until your full retirement age would be a wise choice. If you expect at least average longevity and dont need the money right away, waiting until age 70 would be a prudent strategy. But if you dont work and expect less than average longevity, then claiming at any time you need the money would be a reasonable decision. This is a choice only each of you can make.

Russell Gloor is an Association of Mature American Citizens certified social security advisor. To submit a question, visitamacfoundation.org/programs/social-security-advisory or email ssadvisor@amacfoundation.org

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Choose best time to claim benefits - GREAT BEND TRIBUNE - Great Bend Tribune

When it comes to dog food, we all want to make sure we are feeding our dogs all the goodness they need without any harmful ingredients or additives. I am one of those dog moms. Thats why I jumped at the opportunity to try Dr. Jeffs Optimum freeze-dried dog food and Daily Canine Care supplement. My dog was so excited after eating this food that she celebrated with some zoomies!

I adopted my female Hound Mix from Homeward Bound Animal Welfare Group in 2018. She is two years old and weighs 35 pounds. She currently has a healthy body shape, but I have to be careful about portion size with her. She is a bit on the short side and quickly becomes rotund if overfed. She currently eats a mix of a limited ingredient dry dog food topped with fresh fruit or veggies and homemade meals of meat or fish, whole grains, and veggies. Townes gets regular exercise on our daily 2-3 mile walks.

I grew up with a family dog and have had dogs of my own throughout my adulthood. Like many of us, I always fed my dogs a dry food that was convenient and affordable without giving much thought to ingredients or processing. That has changed. As I got older and became more aware of nutrition and its impact on my own health, I realized that I needed to have the same concerns for my dogs.

My dogs experienced health issues that I believe were directly tied to the food they ate. Terrible skin allergies plagued my adopted Black Lab Mix, Morgan. Then I lost my sidekick Murphy to cancer. I want Townes to live the longest, healthiest life possible. The food she eats plays an incredibly important role in that.

In a landmark five year study of over 500 dogs, researchers Bruno Sapy and Dr. Gerard Lippert concluded that a dogs diet is one of the most significant contributors to longevity. In fact, their research showed that dogs who eat homemade meals made from whole foods lived an average of 32 months longer than those who ate commercial dog food. That is almost three years! Dr. Jeffs Optimum and Daily Canine Care supplements are well-balanced, affordable, and nutritionally advanced. They offer you the convenience of kibble with the benefits of homemade, contributing to happiness, a lower risk of disease and obesity, and a longer life.

Dr. Jeff is a nationally renowned veterinarian and pet journalist. For over 35 years, he has been practicing veterinary medicine in Los Angeles. He is known as the Celebrity Vet for treating dogs whose humans have celebrity status. Dr. Jeff was drawn to veterinary medicine because of his love for animals. That love is the driving force behind Dr. Jeffs freeze-dried dog food and supplement. He and his team of dog lovers have developed a well-balanced, affordable, nutritionally advanced food, and probiotic supplement that helps dogs live longer, healthier, happier lives.

Freeze-drying is the most nutritionally sound way to preserve food. Freeze-dried foods are the same size and shape as the original food. They do not require refrigeration and are shelf-stable for long periods of time. When you place freeze-dried foods in water, they reconstitute, returning to their original form. According to industry leader Freeze-Dry Foods, freeze-dried foods maintain nutrients, color, flavor, and texture often indistinguishable from the original product. Dr. Jeffs freeze-dried dog food allows you to serve your dog the nutritional equivalent of homemade fresh foods without the fuss.

The ingredients in Dr. Jeffs Optimum are simple, limited, and real. Beef, turkey, and duck are the first ingredients in this 32% protein food for dogs. Optimum also includes two different types of organ meat and two different types of seafood. Actual fruit and vegetables and specially selected additives like turmeric, folic acid, and kelp make this formula uniquely designed for health and wellness. The ingredients are not just wholesome; they are evolutionary.

Optimum was designed by experts who understand what a dog should be eating. Dog moms and dads can feel secure knowing their dog will get all the energy-lifting and disease-fighting ingredients they need with Optimum. They can also feel confident that Optimum is free of artificial flavors, colors, synthetic preservatives, and biologically unsound fillers like corn, soy, and wheat.

When changing to Optimum, you should phase it in over the course of a week. This is done to avoid digestive upset for your dog. A handy schedule is included in the package that Dr. Jeffs ships for free. When I opened the package, my dog recognized right away that something special was about to be served up. I added water per the instructions and watched as the nuggets rehydrated and released a dog-pleasing aroma of meat.

I could barely get the bowl down before she gobbled it up and licked the bowl. Afterward, she was positively bursting with energy and showed me how happy she was with an athletic zoom around the yard. I like to mix things up for her at meals, offering her a variety of tastes and textures. One of the things that I like best about Dr. Jeffs Optimum is that it can be used as the primary meal or as a topper to change things up.

One of the easiest ways to support well being is through probiotic supplementation. This is true for humans and dogs! Probiotics support healthy digestion, nutrient absorption, and the bodys immune system. Dr. Jeffs Canine Care gives your dogs an unprecedented ten different strains of probiotics along with three super ingredients.

When I first used Dr. Jeffs Canine Care, Townes nose let her know that something delicious was being sprinkled on her food. This supplement is infused with bacon flavor, and we all know that dogs dig bacon. It was helpful to mix in into the other food with a bit of water, which spread the pleasant taste over the entire dish and ensured that she would ingest all of the dissolved powder.

I look forward to seeing how this supplement will help her maintain a healthy weight and body shape. She also has pretty severe anxiety in the car. Research has pointed to a reduction in anxious behaviors in canines through probiotic supplementation. Using this potent 10-strain formula may be just the supplement she needs to feel calm and relaxed on necessary car rides.

The dog lovers at Dr. Jeffs are so confident that you will love their food for dogs that they always offer an unconditional 60-day money-back guarantee. If you or your dog are not over the moon with the results you get from Optimum, they will gladly refund every cent of your order, without questions. However, there is something even better being offered to the iHeartDogs community. For a limited time, you can get a bag of Optimum for free! Dont wait. Try Dr. Jeffs Optimum today!

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Freeze Dried Dog Food for Health and Longevity - iHeartDogs.com

Global reinsurance broker Aon says longevity markets are continuing to function effectively despite COVID-19 and has cautioned pension schemes against over-reacting to high short-term UK mortality data when setting their long-term mortality assumptions.

Tim Gordon, partner and head of Demographic Horizons in Aons Risk Settlement Group, noted how were emerging from the initial wave of the global COVID-19 pandemic with no effective vaccine and with some critical aspects still unknown. As a result, some people assume that life expectancy must have reduced, but this is not necessarily the case.

While there are potential outcomes of this crisis that could reduce life expectancy, including the possible impact of economic recession, there are also potential outcomes that could result in higher life expectancy, said Gordon.

These could include increased spending on health and social care, and a potential hardening of the UK to future pandemics.

On top of this, the socio-economic profile of pension schemes means that their liabilities are typically partially insulated from the variations we see in national mortality statistics.

Accordingly, it would be premature now to make major changes to best estimate longevity assumptions in either direction. Indeed, it is reasonable for median best estimate assumptions to remain broadly unchanged.

Martin Bird, senior partner and head of Aons Risk Settlement Group, added, Longevity markets have continued to function efficiently over the course of the crisis to date, with bulk annuities and longevity swap transactions continuing apace.

Trustees and sponsors have, in our experience, taken the view that risk settlement forms part of their long-term risk management strategy and have been comfortable with proceeding with transactions, despite the turbulence from COVID-19.

In fact, in some cases, agile clients have been able to take advantage of pricing opportunities, such as those arising from increased credit spreads earlier in the crisis.

More than ever, it is important for schemes to keep their wits about them when entering a potential transaction.

Particular features in the current environment are the need to understand the consequences of different on-risk dates and the potential for regret risk as well as ensuring that investment portfolios are adequately stress-tested to guard against any later liquidity problems.

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Aon warns against over-reaction to short-term COVID-19 mortality data - Reinsurance News

JPMorgans strategists have reportedly found bitcoins market structure to be more resilient than those of currencies, equities, Treasuries, and gold. In a new report on bitcoins stress test, JPMorgan wrote that cryptocurrencies have longevity as an asset class.

In a new report entitled Cryptocurrency takes its first stress test: Digital gold, pyrite, or something in between? JPMorgans strategists say bitcoin is looking mostly positive, Bloomberg reported Friday. The report, led by head of U.S. interest rate derivatives strategy Joshua Younger and cross-asset research analyst Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, shows that cryptocurrencies have longevity as an asset class.

The report examines bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and other financial assets as they plunged in March when the coronavirus pandemic exploded in the U.S., causing shutdowns that crippled the economy. While bitcoin crashed to under $4,000, it bounced back faster than most other assets and recouped most of its value by the end of April. Moreover, bitcoins valuations did not diverge much from intrinsic levels during the March panic. Though the bubble collapsed as dramatically as it inflated, the strategists wrote:

Bitcoin has rarely traded below the cost of production, including the very disorderly conditions that prevailed in March.

The JPMorgan strategists also found that the cryptocurrencys price action points to their continued use more as a vehicle for speculation than medium of exchange or store of value, noting that bitcoin appears to have been correlated to riskier assets like equities.

Furthermore, the report describes that there were few signs of a flight to liquidity within the asset class, as most cryptocurrencies collectively fell in March. Concluding that bitcoin weathered its stress test well, the strategists wrote: there is little evidence of run dynamics, or even material quality tiering among cryptocurrencies, even during the throws of the crisis in March.

The report also explores liquidity, or the bid-offer spread of the order book, which is directly related to volatility. When the order book thins, a given transaction could result in a larger price change, and vice versa, the news outlet conveyed. Though bitcoin saw among the most severe drops in liquidity around the peak of the crisis, that disruption unwound itself much faster than other asset classes. According to the publication, the strategists wrote:

The coins market structure turned out to be more resilient than those of currencies, equities, Treasuries and gold.

JPMorgan has come a long way in its recognition of bitcoin. In September 2017, CEO Jamie Dimon called bitcoin a fraud, only to regret saying it a few months later. Now JPMorgan Chase is even providing banking services to bitcoin exchanges: Coinbase and Gemini. Last month, the company agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit for overcharging fees for crypto transactions.

What do you think about JPMorgan changing its views on bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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JPMorgan: Bitcoin's Market Structure More Resilient Than Currencies, Equities, Treasuries and Gold | News - Bitcoin News

SALT LAKE CITY In April, a Virginia pastor died from the coronavirus after telling his congregation to ignore physical distancing rules. Even after the story made national news, some religious leaders continued to defy public health orders and hold services, including a Louisiana pastor who told his church members, God gave you an immune system to kill that virus.

The next month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned the virus can spread easily at large religious gatherings, citing a case where two people with COVID-19 infected 35 others in March at church events in Arkansas.

Stories like these show the potential danger of holding large meetings while the coronavirus continues to claim U.S. lives and could cast religious leaders who insist on public worship in a negative light. But Harold G. Koenig, professor of psychiatry and director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Duke University Medical Center, has some positive news for people of faith. He argues that religiousness may actually reduce a persons risk of contracting and dying from COVID-19.

According to Koenig, people who participate in organized religion or have their own spiritual practices are less likely to engage in unhealthy behaviors like smoking and drinking and more likely to have good habits like eating well and exercising. Not only can religious and spiritual involvement impact peoples physical health via their lifestyle choices, but it can also have a significant effect on their emotional well-being, said Koenig. All these factors combined can give a persons immune system a leg-up in fighting off viruses of any kind, he said.

Theres no question religion has an impact on both susceptibility to viral infections and recovery from it once youre infected, said Koenig, who was raised Catholic and now practices in a Protestant church. This just makes sense when you think about it.

However, Nicole Fisher, president of Health & Human Rights Strategies, a health care and human rights-focused advising firm in Washington, D.C., warns that religion and spirituality are not protective measures against COVID-19 on their own.

Viruses dont have any respect for religion, race, gender, politics or anything else. They look for a suitable host, and that can be anyone not taking proper precautions, said Fisher, who is spiritual but does not associate with a particular religion.

Still, there are clear links between beliefs, emotions and the body, Fisher said.

Prayer alone cannot cure you, Fisher said. But, with medical attention appropriate for how bad your illness is, prayer, meditation and faith can certainly bring a person peace of mind which can undoubtedly improve mental and emotional health, which is oftentimes linked to physical health.

More than a hundred studies have found that religious people are less likely to smoke, a habit which has a large impact on coronavirus outcomes.

According to Stanton Glantz, a professor of medicine and director of the University of California, San Franciscos Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, research shows smoking nearly doubles a persons risk of COVID-19 disease progression, which could involve the need for critical care or death.

Glantz explained that the respiratory system has a very strong natural immune function, starting with microscopic hairs called cilia in the nose that trap viruses, bacteria and toxins. Deeper inside the lungs, cells called macrophages gobble up those things that can harm the body.

Smoking disables a lot of that immune function and makes you more susceptible to getting infected. Then if you get infected, the infections are worse, said Glantz, who added that vaping has a lot of the same effects as smoking.

According to Koenig, most research involving religion and health looks at Christianity, which promotes healthy behaviors by teaching that the body is a temple. But there are a number of studies that also examine Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism, which all espouse similar beliefs about the sanctity of the body. Vegetarianism and yoga practices associated with Hinduism and mindfulness and breathing practices associated with Buddhism can also have direct health benefits, Koenig said.

A 2017 study by researchers from the Emory Rollins School of Public Health categorized subjects as Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, other religion or no religion. The study demonstrated a link between regular attendance at religious services with improved health and lowered mortality. They found that people who attended services frequently had a 40% lower hazard of mortality compared with those who never attended. Even those who attended services less frequently had a greater protection against mortality than those who didnt attend at all, but there were no differences by religious affiliation.

Stress increases susceptibility to viral infections, said Koenig, but individual spiritual practices and the support networks that come with organized religion can promote emotional well-being.

A big part of going to church is the social support in the community that one receives, said Carolyn Aldwin, director of the Center for Healthy Aging Research at Oregon State University. Social integration has a big effect on health outcomes.

Aldwin was raised Catholic and now attends an Episcopal church. To protect against the coronavirus, religious communities can support people who are older or immunocompromised by calling and checking in on them, or providing services like grocery shopping so they can avoid going out, Aldwin said.

The benefits of emotional self-regulation are also significant, said Aldwin, who has studied the effects of religion and spirituality on people with congestive heart failure.

When you have something like congestive heart failure, which is very hard to regulate and difficult to live with, being calmer and happier, and maybe feeling supported may allow you to experience less distress and even live longer, Aldwin said.

According to Koenig, positive emotions have the opposite effect on the immune system that negative emotions and stress have.

If you have meaning and purpose, if you have joy and satisfaction with life, if you experience a sense of peace, all of that has a positive impact on the immune system in the exact opposite way seen with chronic stress, anxiety and depression, Koenig said.

Cardiologist Dhanunjaya Lakkireddy, medical director of the Kansas City Heart Rhythm Institute, has set out to test the health impacts of one particular spiritual practice: prayer.

Lakkireddys COVID prayer study is set up as a double-blind randomized control trial, where coronavirus patients who voluntarily enroll on the website will be assigned into either a control group, or a group that will be prayed for by various volunteer religious groups representing the Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist traditions. Lakkireddy and his colleagues plan to measure whether this remote intercessory prayer affects coronavirus outcomes like mortality, number of days in the ICU and days on a ventilator.

Lakkireddy was born into Hinduism and went to a Catholic school, but doesnt consider himself to belong to one religion in particular. He said the study required hardly any funding from the institute because he and others have all volunteered their time.

I was always intrigued by this idea of a supernatural divine power that can impact what we do as human beings on this earth, said Lakkireddy. As scientific and critical as I want to be in my thinking, the question about this divine force interested me.

But Aldwin is skeptical that any one aspect of spirituality, like prayer will prove to have a large impact on health with the coronavirus.

People who are sincerely religious have multiple things going for them, its the community which provides support, almost like a social safety net. Theres the better health behaviors, the calmness and acceptance in the face of adversity, said Aldwin. Its the whole package.

While some religious practices and belief systems may be correlated with healthy behaviors, the benefits could be instantly negated if people of faith are gathering to worship in large groups without the proper precautions, like social distancing and wearing masks. Multiple coronavirus outbreaks have been traced to religious groups, like Orthodox Jewish communities in New York or the Shincheonji religion in South Korea.

Religiousness, spirituality or faith, as in all facets of life and current health challenges, can be part of the problem or part of the solution, said Jeff Levin, University Professor of epidemiology and population health and director of the program on religion and population health at Baylor University. Where there are messages coming from the pulpit, or coming from religious leaders, telling people to ignore public health messages, I just think its incredibly foolish.

With coronavirus fatalities decreasing by the week across the country, U.S. churches are beginning to open back up. But most are trying to discourage the hugging and hand-shaking that typically accompanies fellowshipping. Some are implementing rules regarding how close people can sit in the pews, or eliminating the tradition of singing hymns because exhaling air with increased force can spread the virus farther.

Levin, who is Jewish, said he thinks these precautions are reasonable and wise.

Churches and pastors and religious organizations shouldnt be a source of anxiety for people, or discouragement, they should be supporting people and letting people know we will get through this, just a little longer, said Levin. We dont want to undo the good that weve done. There is still so much we dont know about the virus, and we are still learning that things could go south at any moment. Its not time for a victory lap at all.

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COVID-19 and the link between religious practices and personal health - Deseret News

Yesterday, in the wake of reports that AMD motherboard vendors have applied BIOS firmware to purposely misreport key power telemetry, AMD issued a statement to Tom's Hardware. It said that it has seen these reports, and that it is going to investigate further. The main worry is that while motherboard vendors have made these changes to squeeze the best performance from AMD silicon, a side effect could possibly be felt in processor stability or longevity.

Winding back a little, this story emanated from a hardware analysis and reporting feature introduced by the developers of HWinfo recently. The feature is dubbed Power Reporting Deviation, and in the words of the authors it "tells how much the CPU telemetry seen by the CPU differs from real world (expected) data". Furthermore, HWinfo fields an accusation against vendors, saying the deviation "is usually caused by mainboard vendor (often intentionally) providing wrong calibration data in BIOS (AGESA) to fool the CPU to run at a higher power than the limit for the SKU".

Of course the motherboard market is very competitive, better performance sells, and the manufacturers appear to be indulging in one-upmanship, by hook or by crook. In effect these motherboard vendors are secretly overclocking your AMD processor, by fiddling the data sent to AMD's Adaptive Voltage and Frequency Scaling (AVFS) algorithms.

HWinfo devs observed the above CPU power reporting deviation on a Ryzen 9 3900X running Cinebench

AMD's response is to the above revelations at this time is to soothe user-concerns. It says that while it is looking into the accuracy of the reports, AMD processors contain an array of safeguards which should still maintain CPU safety and longevity. For clarity the full statement is below:

Going forward it will be interesting to see if further investigations by AMD finds that these motherboard firmware misreporting tweaks are indeed damaging, and whether its board partners will continue to implement them now this info is in the open. Lastly, change will depend on whether AMD puts pressure on board partners to alter their behaviour.

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AMD responds to motherboards misreporting power telemetry - Mainboard - News - HEXUS

A person is seen walking in the streets of Akita in this file photo. (Mainichi/Kaho Shimokobe)

AKITA -- Getting a good night's sleep is essential to leading a healthy life, and in Japan it's the people of the northern prefecture of Akita who are getting the most pillow time, and the only people in the entire country to manage over eight hours in bed per day on average. The Mainichi Shimbun sat down with a sleep expert to find out their secrets.

According to the results of the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry Statistics Bureau's 2016 "social and lifestyle basic research," average sleep time in Japan stood at seven hours and 40 minutes, while that of Akita Prefecture residents was eight hours and two minutes. Compared to those living in Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, who got the least sleep at an average of seven hours and 31 minutes, Akitans snoozed at least half an hour longer.

Former Japanese Society of Sleep Research chairman and current Akita Prefectural Mental Health and Welfare Center director Tetsuo Shimizu explains that the possible main cause of longer sleep hours is that senior citizens make up a large part of Akita Prefecture's population. The Cabinet Office's 2019 Annual Report on the Aging Society says 36.4% of the prefecture's population was aged 65 and up in 2018, making it the only prefecture with a percentage higher than 35. Shimizu says one can argue that the more retired people there are, the more people there are with the time to have a proper sleep.

Shimizu also noted other rankings that appear in the Statistics Bureau's research, such as that for commuting times. Akita Prefecture placed 43rd, tied with three other prefectures including Aomori, for the second shortest time. The prefectures with the three longest commuting times -- Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama, all bordering Tokyo -- are also the prefectures with the shortest sleep hours.

"Akita Prefecture is so far away from a major metropolitan area and it is also a major farming prefecture. Many residents probably spend only limited time on commuting," says Shimizu.

Furthermore, Shimizu points to the average bedtime of the Akitans as a factor contributing to their country-topping shuteye stats. According to one of the charts in the lifestyle research, Akita Prefecture residents go to bed at 10:33 p.m. on average, earliest in the country. The early bedtime is evidence that there are many older residents with moved-up sleep-wake cycles, and Shimizu comments, "We don't have many daylight hours in winter here and it gets freezing cold, so people would be more likely to say, 'Let's not waste money for kerosene and get in bed already.'"

Longer sleeping hours would seem to promise health benefits for Akitans. But according to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry's 2015 longevity list broken down by prefecture, Akita is second-last for men, at 79.51 years, and fourth from the bottom for women at 86.38 years.

Shimizu comments, "Akitans like drinking, so I suspect there are many of them who drink a lot before going to bed and just pass out. That might be negatively affecting the benefits of sleep." Backing Shimizu's claim, Statistics Bureau research on household spending in prefectural capitals and government-designated major cities showed that people in the city of Akita spent the most money on alcohol per year, averaging 55,920 yen (about $510) in 2017 through 2019, highlighting Akitans' love of drinking.

(Japanese original by Hiroshi Takano, Akita Bureau)

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Not so sleepless in Akita: The secrets of the Japanese prefecture getting the most Zs - The - The Mainichi

After their meteoric rise in the 80s, Bon Jovi spent most of the next decade weathering the trends and outlasting the tag of being a hair-metal band. After the hard-rockin hedonism of Slippery When Wet and New Jersey , both 90s albums (Keep the Faith and These Days) were about getting serious. There were more epics, more stories and a lot less fist-waving. Both had darker lyrics than usual, and Keep the Faith included Dry County, their first and only ten-minute track. The results were critical praise but a lower commercial profile. For the first time, the Jersey lads were in danger of a long-term career built on playing their old hits.

But Crush changed all that, rebooting the band when it arrived in June 2000. The album opens with a trio of hit singles, but there isnt a song here that wouldnt jump right out of the radio. Its really the first Bon Jovi album that doesnt aim for a unified sound, giving each track a feel of its own. They do sleek and modern, they do guitar-slinging retro, post-grunge and pure pop, depending on what a song calls for. There are also a few hints of the Americana direction theyd head in over the next decade.

Listen to Crush on Apple Music and Spotify.

Much of Crushs success can be credited to an infusion of new blood. Bassist Hugh McDonald was now settled in the band, having replaced Alec John Such in Bon Jovis first-ever personnel change a move that initially shocked fans who thought the five-way partnership was unshakeable. Another key player who took a backseat this time around was songwriter Desmond Child, who added the hit sheen to You Give Love a Bad Name and Livin On A Prayer. Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora did the lions share of writing on Crush and the main co-writer was Billy Falcon, an upstart whose only previous major credit was co-writing (with Bon Jovi) Sometimes Its a B__ch for Stevie Nicks.

Most surprisingly, theres no big-name producer involved with Crush. Hitmaker Bruce Fairbairn was set to produce before his sudden heart attack, followed by Metallica man Bob Rock who was also considered. Finally, Bon Jovi and Sambora decided to co-produce with Luke Ebbins a young guy with plenty of ideas and zero hits to his credit. The gamble paid off, and Crush came out sounding polished but fresh, with no obvious fingerprints on it.

While theres more to Crush than its hit singles, lets dive right into the hit singles. For most bands, Its My Life is the kind of song that comes along once in a career an undeniable anthem, with a universal message and an unshakeable hook. From the two pounded chords that open, it has the sparkle of a pop hit, but its also steeped in classic rock. During promotions for the album, Jon Bon Jovi freely admitted he pinched the songs title and attitude from the Animals. The lyric also namechecks Sinatra and checks in with Tommy and Gina from Livin On a Prayer turns out theyre doing fine and Sambora caps it all off with a talkbox solo, likely the last one to appear on a hit single.

The second single, Say It Isnt So, pulls off the neat trick of sounding like Humble Pie in the verses and The Beatles in the choruses, while Thank You for Loving Me is the albums obligatory ballad, this time done with real strings (and a nice Sambora riff at the very end).

Sambora does some of his best work between the lines, including a few big moments on Next 100 Years, which is a three-minute song with a four-minute coda. It starts as a catchy love song, then pulls a chanted Hey Jude-type fade before the band revs up and Sambora cuts loose. Its a live-sounding moment and tops the list of singles that should have been.

In the period leading up to the 90s and then post-9/11, Bon Jovi got political, but Crush marked the bands return to pure, uncomplicated fun. Long-haul fans doubtlessly appreciated Just Older, a rousing tune that argued hitting middle age was no big deal. And anyone who remembered the 70s had to appreciate Captain Crash & the Beauty Queen from Mars, the only Bon Jovi song that clearly nods to the glitter era. (Even the title sounds like a lost Mott the Hoople track). The finale, One Wild Night, is such a fist-waver that it became the title of a live album a year later.

But the buried treasure on Crush is I Got the Girl, tucked away toward the end. Musically it encapsulates the album, starting as moody electronic pop and then chord-slinging in the chorus. Lyrically it appears to be one more Bon Jovi song about lucking out and finding the perfect partner, until he comes up with the easy-to-miss line the Queen of Hearts will always be a five-year-old princess to me. Yes, hes singing about his daughter, pulling the same narrative trick Chuck Berry did on Memphis. Its the kind of moment that keeps Bon Jovi honest, and a little endearing: Behind all that streamlined pop and arena fireworks sits a beaming dad.

Crush can be bought here.

Listen to the best of Bon Jovi on Apple Music and Spotify.

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Crush: How Stadium Heroes Bon Jovi Reclaimed The Rock Scene - uDiscover Music

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Nanotechnology for Healthcare Marketreport includes the estimation of market size for value (million USD) and volume (M Sqm). Both Top-down and bottom-up approaches have been used to estimate and validate the market size of Nanotechnology for Healthcare Market, to estimate the size of various other dependent submarkets in the overall market.

Key players in the market have been identified through secondary research, and their market shares have been determined through primary and secondary research. All percentage shares, splits, and breakdowns have been determined using secondary sources and verified primary sources.

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Nanotechnology for Healthcare Market Global Competitions and Business Outlook 2020 to 2026 - News Collective

INBRAIN Neuroelectronics, a spin-off of the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST) and ICREA, has received funding from Sabadell Asabys and Alta Life Sciences, as well as ICF and Finaves, which will allow the company to speed up the development of novel graphene-based implants to optimize the treatment of brain disorders, such as Parkinsons and epilepsy.

INBRAIN Neuroelectronics was established in 2019 with the mission of developing brain-implants based on graphene technology for application in patients with epilepsy, Parkinsons, and other neuronal diseases. These smart devices, built around an innovative graphene electrode, will decode with high certainty neural signals from the brain and produce a therapeutic response adapted to the clinical condition of the specific patient.

The company is designing the least invasive and smartest neural interface that, powered by artificial intelligence and the use of Big Data, will have the ability to read and modulate brain activity, detect specific biomarkers, and trigger adaptive responses to deliver optimal results in personalised neurological therapies. So far, the technology has been validated in in-vitro and in-vivo biocompatibility and toxicity tests and has been successfully used to complete studies on small animals. Recently, INBRAIN began tests on large animals with the aim of ensuring that these graphene devices are safe as well as superior to current solutions based on metals such as platinum and iridium. The company also plans to start human studies soon.

INBRAIN was founded, among others, by ICREA Prof. Jose Garrido, leader of the ICN2 Advanced Electronic Materials and Devices Group, Prof. Kostas Kostarelos, leader of the ICN2 Nanomedicine Group, and Dr. Anton Guimer, a researcher at the Spanish National Centre of Microelectronics (IMB-CNM).

Within the framework of the Graphene Flagship, which is a European macroproject, explains Prof. Garrido, we were able to develop this novel graphene-based technology that will allow measuring and stimulating neuronal activity in the brain with a resolution much higher than that of current commercial technologies.

Throughout 2019, the incorporation of INBRAIN was a priority project for the ICN2 Business and Innovation Department, which coordinated the technology transfer process and successfully orchestrated the licensing of this high-potential technology.

Minimally invasive electronic therapies represent a revolutionary alternative with less potential cost for health systems, comments Carolina Aguilar, CEO of INBRAIN and a former global executive at Medtronic in the field of neuro-stimulation. In our case, the application of new 2D materials such as graphene represents a real opportunity to understand the brain workings in order to optimise and personalize the treatment.

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INBRAIN Neuroelectronics receives funding to push forward the development of graphene-based implants for brain disorders - Graphene-Info

by Stanford Medicine on June 13, 2020 1:30 pm

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) has awarded $1.49 million to research projects involving Stanford Medicine scientists who will investigate emerging ideas about the role of inflammationin disease. The grants will be awarded over a two-year period.

Ami Bhatt is one of the researchers on the Analyzing how inflammation affects the aging brain project that will be receiving funds from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. (Courtesy Stanford Medicine)

CZI is a philanthropic organization established byFacebookfounder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, in 2015.

Following are short descriptions of the projects, their funding amounts and the names of their investigators (lead investigators are listed first):

Analyzing how inflammation affects the aging brain ($525,000): ANNE BRUNET, professor of genetics; AMI BHATT, assistant professor of genetics and of hematology; CHRIS GARCIA, professor of structural biology and of molecular and cellular physiology.

Imaging gut immune cells and microbes to understand health and disease($300,000): LUCY ERIN OBRIEN, assistant professor of molecular and cellular and biology; KC HUANG, professor of bioengineering and of microbiology and immunology.

Studying vascular disease in black and Hispanic patients ($525,000): JOSEPH WU, professor of cardiovascular medicine and director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute; ELSIE GYANG ROSS, assistant professor of vascular surgery and of biomedical informatics research; and PHILIP TSAO, professor of cardiovascular medicine.

Understanding how stress and social disparity affect preterm birth ($140,000): Jingjing Li, assistant professor of neurology (UCSF); GARY SHAW, professor of pediatrics; and DAVID K. STEVENSON, professor of pediatrics.

Read this article and more on the Stanford Medicine website.

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Chan Zuckerberg Initiative awards $1.49 million to Stanford researchers | The - Stanford University News

CINCINNATI, June 08, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aerpio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Aerpio) (ARPO), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing compounds that activate Tie2 to treat ocular diseases and diabetic complications, today announced that it is hosting a key opinion leader (KOL) call on a novel mechanism for the treatment of glaucoma on Friday, June 12, 2020 at 11:30am Eastern Time.

The call will feature presentations by Dr. Paul Kaufman M.D. (University of Wisconsin) and Dr. Janey Wiggs, M.D., Ph.D. (Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Harvard Medical School), who will discuss the current glaucoma treatment landscape and unmet medical needs, as well as the role of the Tie2 receptor in maintaining intraocular pressure. Drs. Kaufman and Wiggs will be available to answer questions at the conclusion of the event.

Aerpio's management team will also discuss its pipeline candidate, razuprotafib (formerly AKB-9778), for treating patients with glaucoma. Razuprotafib is a small molecule inhibitor that restores Tie2 activation in Schlemms canal and lowers intraocular eye pressure (IOP) via decreasing resistance to outflow from the eye. Razuprotafib has been formulated as a once or twice-daily topical eye drop and is entering a Phase 2 clinical trial in Q3:20, with top line data expected in Q1:21.

Aerpio recently announced positive and statistically significant intraocular eye pressure (IOP) reduction in a Phase 1b trial of 43 glaucoma patients, when razuprotafib was added to prostaglandin treatment. This data set is summarized here.

Paul Kaufman, M.D. is the Ernst H. Brny Emeritus Professor of Ocular Pharmacology and past Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, in Madison, Wisconsin. He is a physician-scientist, specializing in glaucoma and studying the mechanisms of aqueous humor formation and drainage, and the age-related loss of near vision. Dr Kaufman is a past President and past Executive Vice President of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), past President of the International Society for Eye Research (ISER), and has served on the US National Advisory Eye Council and numerous foundation and corporate scientific advisory boards. He has had continuous research funding from the US National Eye Institute for 40 years and from numerous private foundations, has authored over 375 original scientific articles and 75 book chapters, co-edited several textbooks including the most recent editions of Adlers Physiology of the Eye, and received numerous honors and awards including the Friedenwald Award from ARVO and the Balazs Prize from ISER. He was Editor-in-Chief of Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science from 2008 through 2012. Dr. Kaufman also holds an honorary Doctor of Medicine degree from Uppsala University in Sweden, where he was a post-doctoral research fellow.

Janey L. Wiggs, M.D., Ph.D. is a physician-scientist at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Harvard Medical School. She is currently the Paul Austin Chandler Professor of Ophthalmology and is the Vice Chair for Clinical Research in Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. She also directs the CLIA-certified genetic testing laboratory at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and is a co-director of the Ocular Genomics Institute and co-director of the Glaucoma Center of Excellence. Dr. Wiggs received her B.A. and Ph.D. degrees in biochemistry from the University of California at Berkeley and her M.D. degree from Harvard Medical School. She did post-doctoral training in molecular genetics under the direction of Dr. Ted Dryja. Dr. Wiggs completed the ophthalmology residency at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and received fellowship training in glaucoma and also in medical genetics and is certified by the both the American Board of Ophthalmology and the American Board of Medical Genetics. Dr. Wiggs research program is focused on the discovery and characterization of genetic factors that contribute to the blinding eye disease glaucoma and is funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI) as well as other nonprofit foundations. She is investigating the genetic etiologies of both early-onset and adult forms of glaucoma and is the PI of the NEIGHBORHOOD consortium for gene discovery in primary open angle glaucoma and is a founding member of the International Glaucoma Genetics Consortium (IGGC). She has also participated in research programs funded by the US-INDO joint working group (NEI) and the NEI eyeGENE consortium. Dr. Wiggs was the inaugural chair of the Genetics Group for ARVO and is an ARVO gold fellow. She currently serves on the editorial boards of IOVS, JAMA Ophthalmology, Molecular Vision, Journal of Glaucoma, and Annual Reviews in Vision Science. She is a member of the scientific advisory boards for the Glaucoma Research Foundation, Research to Prevent Blindness and the Glaucoma Foundation, and is a past member of the Advisory Council of the National Eye Institute. She has received the Heed Award, the Heed/Knapp Award, the Research to Prevent Blindness Scholar Award, the AAO Honor Award, the Lew Wasserman Merit Award, the Alcon Research Award, the David L. Epstein award from the ARVO Foundation and was a winner of the NEI Audacious Goal competition. She is an elected member of the Glaucoma Research Society, the American Ophthalmological Society, the Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis and the National Academy of Medicine.

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About RazuprotafibRazuprotafib binds to and inhibits vascular endothelial protein tyrosine phosphatase (VE-PTP), an important negative regulator of Tie2. Decreased Tie2 activity contributes to vascular instability in many diseases including diabetes and more recently has been shown to contribute to the development of increased IOP and glaucoma. Razuprotafib activates the Tie2 receptor irrespective of extracellular levels of its binding ligands, angiopoietin-1 (agonist) or angiopoietin-2 (antagonist) and may be the most efficient pharmacologic approach to maintain normal Tie2 activation. Aerpio is studying a topical ocular formulation of razuprotafib in open angle glaucoma and exploring the utility of subcutaneous razuprotafib for diabetic complications, including diabetic nephropathy.

About Aerpio PharmaceuticalsAerpio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing compounds that activate Tie2 to treat ocular diseases and diabetic complications. Recently published mouse and human genetic data implicate the Angpt/Tie2 pathway in maintenance of Schlemms canal, a critical component of the conventional outflow tract. The Companys lead compound, razuprotafib (formerly AKB-9778), a first-in-class small molecule inhibitor of vascular endothelial protein tyrosine phosphatase (VE-PTP), is being developed as a potential treatment for open angle glaucoma, and the Company intends to investigate the therapeutic potential of razuprotafib in other indications. The Company is also evaluating development options for ARP-1536, a humanized monoclonal antibody, for its therapeutic potential in the treatment of diabetic vascular complications including nephropathy and diabetic macular edema (DME). The Companys third asset is a bispecific antibody that binds both VEGF and VE-PTP which is designed to inhibit VEGF activation and activate Tie2. This bispecific antibody has the potential to be an improved treatment for wet age-related macular degeneration and DME via intravitreal injection. Finally, the Company has exclusively out-licensed AKB-4924 (now called GB004), a first-in-class small molecule inhibitor of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF). GB004 is being developed by AKB-4924s exclusive licensor, Gossamer Bio, Inc. (GOSS). For more information, please visit http://www.aerpio.com.

Forward Looking StatementsThis press release contains forward-looking statements. Statements in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include, among other things, the Companys product candidates, including razuprotafib, ARP-1536 and the bispecific antibody asset, the clinical development plan therefor and the therapeutic potential thereof, the Companys plans and expectations with respect to razuprotafib and the development therefor and therapeutic potential thereof in addressing COVID-19 and the intended benefits from the Companys collaboration with Gossamer Bio for GB004, including the continued development of GB004 and the milestone and royalty payments related to the collaboration. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to several risk factors. Such factors include, among others, the continued development of GB004 and maintaining and deriving the intended benefits of the Companys collaboration with Gossamer Bio; ability to continue to develop razuprotafib or other product candidates, including in indications related to COVID-19; the inherent uncertainties associated with the drug development process, including uncertainties in regulatory interactions, the design of planned or future clinical trials, commencing clinical trials and enrollment of patients in clinical trials; obtaining any necessary regulatory clearances in order to commence and conduct planned or future clinical trials; the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on the Companys business operations, including research and development efforts and the ability of the Company to commence, conduct and complete its planned clinical activities; and competition in the industry in which the Company operates and overall market conditions; and the additional factors set forth in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, as updated by our subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and our other subsequent filings with the SEC.

These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Investors should consult all the information set forth herein and should also refer to the risk factor disclosure set forth in the reports and other documents the Company files with the SEC available at http://www.sec.gov.

Investors & Media:Gina MarekVP Financegmarek@aerpio.comOrInvestors:Irina KofflerLifeSci Advisorsikoffler@lifesciadvisors.com

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Aerpio Hosting Key Opinion Leader Call on a Novel Mechanism for the Treatment of Glaucoma - Yahoo Finance

OSWEGO - Dedication to researching complicated neurological disorders and an impressive publication record have earned Sungeun Kim of the electrical and computer engineering faculty the SUNY Oswego Provosts Award for Scholarly and Creative Activity.

Nominator and fellow electrical and computer engineering faculty member Marianne Hromalik noted that, since Kim started at SUNY Oswego in 2016, he has sustained, in addition to his teaching and administrative duties, an impressive record of cutting-edge research.

Kims primary research includes innovative methods for detecting blood-based biomarkers for Alzheimers as well as the integration of the analysis of multiple omics (proteomics, genomics, transcriptomics, etc.) data with neural imaging and clinical data to allow for early detection of Alzheimers and other complex diseases, Hromalik wrote. This work not only represents rapidly expanding research at the very edge of discovery but also has significant medical and social value.

Hromalik praised his track record of peer-reviewed publications -- 93 in all, 21 since joining the Oswego faculty -- as well as his 11 peer-reviewed conference presentations. Kim, who earned his Ph.D. from Purdue Universitys School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has published two pieces in the prestigious journal Nature, and serves as a peer reviewer for several well-regarded academic journals as well.

Particularly since arrival at Oswego, he has constantly produced outstanding research work demonstrating an extreme productivity in publishing peer-reviewed work and obtaining external funding, wrote ECE faculty member Adrian Ieta. He won three external grants in the area of Alzheimers disease and Parkinsons disease.

Ieta also credited Kim involving Oswego undergraduate students in his research, exposing them to this vital research area, as well as providing instrumental work supporting the college engineering programs earning sought-after ABET accreditation in 2019.

Sungeun is a great colleague, always ready to help, to take up new challenges related to teaching, research or other tasks, Ieta wrote. He has an amazing ability to redefine himself and adjust to objectives and requirements. His teaching performance in introductory and advanced courses is excellent.

Kim has provided additional service to the department and its students by revitalizing ECEs capstone design proposal and capstone design courses and has imparted many of his excellent research techniques to seniors in reorganizing and redesigning their project planning processes, Hromalik said.

Dr. Kims ground breaking research has provided deep understanding of mechanistic insights into the molecular basis of brain disorders and identification of new potential therapeutic targets and diagnostic/biomarker strategies, wrote research colleague Kwangsik Nho of Indiana Universitys Center for Neuroimaging.

He is an excellent researcher and an expert on mechanisms of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimers disease at cellular, molecular and systems levels, Nho added. I have never seen anyone develop complex analytic paradigms and statistical/computational approaches and apply them to highly complex data sets as quickly as Dr. Kim.

I am highly impressed by his research accomplishments at your institution, wrote Li Shen, a professor of informatics and Senior Fellow at the Penn Institute for Biomedical Informatics at the University of Pennsylvania.

He is one of the few people I know that has published consistently in imaging, genetics, computing, neuroscience and disease-specific journals, Shen added. This very clearly demonstrates that he is multidisciplinary. This is a highly desirable trait in a world of modern research and teaching that thrives of the use of multiple disciplines to solve complex problems.

The Provosts Award for Scholarly and Creative Activity is designed as recognition of a significant accomplishment in scholarly or creative activity within ones field of study.

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Sungeun Kim wins SUNY Oswego Provost's Award for Scholarly and Creative Activity - NNY360