StemCell Therapy

There are several steps in the transplant process. The steps are much the same, no matter what type of transplant youre going to have.

You will first be evaluated to find out if you are eligible for a transplant. A transplant is very hard on your body. For many people, transplants can mean a cure, but for some people, problems can lead to severe complications or even death. Youll want to weigh the pros and cons before you start.

Transplants can also be hard emotionally. They often require being in the hospital, being isolated, and theres a high risk of side effects. Many of the effects are short-term, but some problems can go on for years. This can mean changes in the way you live your life. For some people its just for a while, but for others, the changes may be lifelong.

Before you have a transplant, you need to discuss the transplant process and all its effects with your doctors. It also helps to talk to others who have already had transplants.

Its also very hard going through weeks and months of not knowing how your transplant will turn out. This takes a lot of time and emotional energy from the patient, caregivers, and loved ones. Its very important to have the support of those close to you. For example, youll need a responsible adult who will be with you to give you medicines, help watch for problems, and stay in touch with your transplant team after you go home. Your transplant team will help you and your caregiver learn what you need to know. The team can also help you and your loved ones work through the ups and downs as you prepare for and go through the transplant.

Many different medical tests will be done, and questions will be asked to try to find out how well you can handle the transplant process. These might include:

You will also talk about your health insurance coverage and related costs that you might have to pay.

You may have a central venous catheter (CVC) put into a large vein in your chest. This is most often done as outpatient surgery, and usually only local anesthesia is needed (the place where the catheter goes in is made numb). Nurses will use the catheter to draw blood and give you medicines.

If youre getting an autologous transplant, a special catheter can be placed that can also be used for apheresis to harvest your stem cells.

The CVC will stay in during your treatment and for some time afterward, usually until your transplanted stem cells have engrafted and your blood counts are on a steady climb to normal.

Younger people, those who are in the early stages of disease, or those who have not already had a lot of treatment, often do better with transplants. Some transplant centers set age limits. For instance, they may not allow regular allogeneic transplants for people over 50 or autologous transplants for people over 65. Some people also may not be eligible for transplant if they have other major health problems, such as serious heart, lung, liver, or kidney disease. A mini-transplant, described under Allogeneic stem cell transplant in Types of Stem Cell Transplants for Cancer Treatment may be an option for some of these people.

The hospitals transplant team will decide if you need to be in the hospital to have your transplant, if it will be done in an outpatient center, or if you will be in the hospital just for parts of it. If you have to be in the hospital, you will probably go in the day before the transplant procedure is scheduled to start. Before conditioning treatment begins (see section below), the transplant team makes sure you and your family understand the process and want to go forward with it.

If you will be having all or part of your transplant as an outpatient, youll need to be very near the transplant center during the early stages. Youll need a family member or loved one as a caregiver who can stay with you all the time. You and the caregiver will also need reliable transportation to and from the clinic. The transplant team will be watching you closely for complications, so expect to be at the clinic every day for a few weeks. You may still need to be in the hospital if your situation changes or if you start having complications.

To reduce the chance of infection during treatment, patients who are in the hospital are put in private rooms that have special air filters. The room may also have a protective barrier to separate it from other rooms and hallways. Some have an air pressure system that makes sure no unclean outside air gets into the room. If youre going to be treated as an outpatient, you will get instructions on avoiding infection.

The transplant experience can be overwhelming. Your transplant team will be there to help you physically and emotionally prepare for the process and discuss your needs. Every effort will be made to answer questions so you and your family fully understand what will be happening to you as you go through transplant.

Its important for you and your family to know what to expect, because once conditioning treatment begins (see the next section), theres no going back there can be serious problems if treatment is stopped at any time during transplant.

Conditioning, also known as bone marrow preparation or myeloablation, is treatment with high-dose chemo and/or radiation therapy. Its the first step in the transplant process and typically takes a week or two. Its done for one or more of these reasons:

The conditioning treatment is different for every transplant. Your treatment will be planned based on the type of cancer you have, the type of transplant, and any chemo or radiation therapy youve had in the past.

If chemo is part of your treatment plan, it will be given in your central venous catheter and/or as pills. If radiation therapy is planned, its given to the entire body (called total body irradiation or TBI). TBI may be given in a single treatment session or in divided doses over a few days.

This phase of the transplant can be very uncomfortable because very high treatment doses are used. Chemo and radiation side effects can make you sick, and it may take you months to fully recover. A very common problem is mouth sores that will need to be treated with strong pain medicines. You may also have nausea, vomiting, be unable to eat, lose your hair, and have lung or breathing problems.

Conditioning can also cause premature menopause in women and often makes both men and women sterile (unable to have children). (See Stem cell transplant and having children in Stem Cell Transplant Side Effects.)

After the conditioning treatment, youll be given a couple of days to rest before getting the stem cells. They will be given through your central venous catheter, much like a blood transfusion. If the stem cells were frozen, you might get some drugs before the stem cells are given. These drugs are used to help reduce your risk of reacting to the preservatives that are used when freezing the cells.

If the stem cells were frozen, they are thawed in warm water then given right away. There may be more than 1 bag of stem cells. For allogeneic or syngeneic transplants, the donor cells may be harvested (removed) in an operating room, and then processed in the lab right away. Once they are ready, the cells are brought in and given to you theyre not frozen. The length of time it takes to get all the stem cells depends on how much fluid the stem cells are in.

You will be awake for this process, and it doesnt hurt. This is a big step and often has great meaning for recipients and their families. Many people consider this their rebirth or chance at a second life. They may celebrate this day as they would their actual birthday.

Side effects from the infusion are rare and usually mild. The preserving agent used when freezing the stem cells (called dimethylsulfoxide or DMSO) causes many of the side effects. For instance, you might have a strong taste of garlic or creamed corn in your mouth. Sucking on candy or sipping flavored drinks during and after the infusion can help with the taste. Your body will also smell like this. The smell may bother those around you, but you might not even notice it. The smell, along with the taste, may last for a few days, but slowly fades away. Often having cut up oranges in the room will offset the odor. Patients who have transplants from cells that were not frozen do not have this problem because the cells are not mixed with the preserving agent.

Other side effects you might have during and right after the stem cell infusion include:

Again, side effects are rare and usually mild. If they do happen, they are treated as needed. The stem cell infusion must always be completed.

The recovery stage begins after the stem cell infusion. During this time, you and your family wait for the cells to engraft, or take, after which they start to multiply and make new blood cells. The time it takes to start seeing a steady return to normal blood counts varies depending on the patient and the transplant type, but its usually about 2 to 6 weeks. Youll be in the hospital or visit the transplant center daily for at least a few weeks.

During the first couple of weeks youll have low numbers of red and white blood cells and platelets. Right after transplant, when your counts are the lowest, you may be given antibiotics to help keep you from getting infections. (This is called prophylactic antibiotics.) You may get a combination of anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-viral drugs. These are usually given until your white blood cell count reaches a certain level. Still, you can have problems, such as infection from too few white blood cells (neutropenia), or bleeding from too few platelets (thrombocytopenia). Many patients have high fevers and need IV antibiotics to treat serious infections. Transfusions of red blood cells and platelets are often needed until the bone marrow starts working and new blood cells are being made by the infused stem cells.

Except for graft-versus-host disease, which only happens with allogeneic transplants, the side effects from autologous, allogeneic, and syngeneic stem cell transplants are much the same. Problems may include stomach, heart, lung, liver, or kidney problems. (Stem Cell Transplant Side Effects goes into the details.) You might also go through feelings of distress, anxiety, depression, joy, or anger. Adjusting emotionally after the stem cells can be hard because of the length of time you feel ill and isolated from others.

You might feel as if you are on an emotional roller coaster during this time. Support and encouragement from family, friends, and the transplant team are very important to get you through the challenges after transplant.

The discharge process actually begins weeks before your transplant. It starts with the transplant team teaching you and your primary (main) caregiver about:

For the most part, transplant centers dont send patients home until they meet the following criteria (Why Are Stem Cell Transplants Used as Cancer Treatment? has more information about neutrophils, platelets, and hematocrit):

If you do not meet all of these requirements, but still dont need the intensive care of the transplant unit, you might be moved to another oncology unit. When you do go home, you might need to stay near the transplant center for some time, depending on your condition.

The process of stem cell transplant doesnt end when you go home. Youll feel tired, and some people have physical or mental health problems in the rehabilitation period. You might still be taking a lot of medicines. These ongoing needs must now be managed at home, so caregiver and friend/family support is very important.

Transplant patients are still followed closely during rehab. You might need daily or weekly exams along with things like blood tests, and maybe other tests, too. During early rehab, you also might need blood and platelet transfusions, antibiotics, or other treatments. At first youll need to see your transplant team often, maybe even every day, but youll progress to less frequent visits if things are going well. It can take 6 to 12 months, or even longer, for blood counts to get close to normal and your immune system to work well. During this time, your team will still be closely watching you.

Some problems might show up as much as a year or more after the stem cells were infused. They can include:

Other problems can also come up, such as:

Your transplant team is still there to help you. Its important that you talk to them about any problems you are having they can help you get the support you need to manage the changes that you are going through. They can also help you know if problems are serious, or a normal part of recovery. The National Bone Marrow Transplant Link helps patients, caregivers, and families by providing information and support services before, during, and after transplant. They can be reached at 1-800-LINK-BMT (1-800-546-5268) or online at http://www.nbmtlink.org.

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Whats It Like to Get a Stem Cell Transplant? | American ...

Lance was diagnosed with cerebral palsy a year ago. His family hopes non-FDA approved stem cell treatment for the disease can help him walk and talk.

CAMP HILL, Pa. A family in Cumberland County has turned to stem cells to treat their two-year-old son diagnosed with cerebral palsy. The only problem: stem cell treatment for the disease hasn't been approved by the FDA.

The day he was born, when he wheeled him down the hall and he was only a pound, and I started to cry and said, will he live? And he said, of course Hes only small," said Danielle Maxwell, Lance's mom.

The words, "he's only small," are what Lance's mom and father Rob have lived by since the day he was born. The preemie, born three months early, has been through several surgeries and complications along the way. But, Lance has always been a fighter.

Lance fought so hard just to survive the beginning of life, and come home with us," said Danielle. "And he is just so happy and loving and amazing.

About a year ago, Lance was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Doctors told his family, he will never walk, talk or take care of himself.

We just dont believe that," said Danielle. "We dont.

Lance receives a lot of different therapies but, his parents did not want to just stop there.

We both overwhelmingly feel, he never gave up, he never gave up on us, he never gave up on himself," said Rob. "So, we owe it to him to give him the opportunity. Its really that simple, he deserves the opportunity."

Danielle began researching stem cell therapies, even speaking to doctors in countries overseas where treatment with stem cells is more readily accessible than in the U.S. The FDA has approved stem cell treatments for some conditions but not cerebral palsy. However, trials to determine the effectiveness of stem cell treatment for the disease are underway.

What weve seen is a small but real appearing improvement in motor function," said Doctor Charles Cox with University of Texas Health in Houston, began a trial in 2013 on the safety and effectiveness of banked cord blood or bone marrow stem cells in children with cerebral palsy, and is now just wrapping up the results from the trial.

The overall results of this study depend if youre a glass half full or half empty kind of person," said Dr. Cox. "It is not a compelling miraculous result. Its not, Oh my God, this child was treated and look at this profound benefit.'"

Because stem cell treatment for cerebral palsy is still in trial phases, it's not approved treatment by the FDA. However, the Maxwells did find a doctor in Harrisburg willing to transfer stem cells from a full-term baby's umbilical cord to Lance. But, since it isn't FDA approved, we were not allowed to be there to show Lance receiving the stem cells. The Maxwells are hopeful following this procedure Lance may someday walk and more importantly be able to communicate with them.

He wants to be involved," said Rob. "You can tell hes trying to communicate he just cant get over that hump. We believe stem cells could be that bridge to help him move a little faster.

Danielle says, it will take about six months to see if the stem cells will have any definitive benefits for Lance. But, already says she's seeing progress. She says Lance is not able to stand on his own.

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Cumberland County family turns to non-FDA approved stem cell treatment to help two-year-old son with cerebral palsy - FOX43.com

There is new hope for patients with a rare autoimmune disorder. In mild cases, scleroderma causes areas of hardened skin. But in severe cases, it can also cause deadly hardening of internal organs like the lungs.

A transplant typically used to treat cancer is having remarkable results for patients who had little hope of surviving.

A year ago, Chuck Beschta couldn't walk more than a few minutes without stopping to rest.

"Just going out and doing normal activities outside raking the lawn, mowing the grass, shoveling the driveway, whatever, snow blowing those became impossible," he said.

After months of testing, he was diagnosed with severe scleroderma, which was hardening his skin. But even worse, it was hardening his lungs, making it hard to breathe.

"He was getting worse despite the best therapy we had to offer," University of Wisconsin rheumatologist Dr. Kevin McKown said.

McKown recommended a stem cell transplant newly approved for scleroderma to reboot Beschta's immune system.

"There's a process by which they try to remove the autoreactive immune cells, the cells that are caught in the immune process, and then they infuse that back in and hope that the body will basically take up and graft that immune system," McKown said.

Beschta saw almost immediate results. His skin was softer and his breathing improved. He hopes his scleroderma has been cured.

"I think we can be optimistic, and so far the people who have been followed out as far as 10 years out don't seem to be getting it back," McKown said.

Without a transplant, less than half the patients who have diffuse scleroderma and severe lung disease live 10 years past diagnosis.

Stem cell transplants are commonly used to treat leukemia and lymphoma, cancers that affect the blood and lymphatic system.

MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHSRESEARCH SUMMARYTOPIC: NEW THERAPY FOR SCLERODERMAREPORT: MB #4698

BACKGROUND: Scleroderma is an autoimmune rheumatic disease where an overproduction of collagen produced in the body tissues causes the skin and internal organs to harden. The symptoms and effects range by person, but some common symptoms include hardened patches of skin (locations on the body vary,) painful and numb-feeling fingers and toes, and sharp internal pain in the esophagus, intestines, heart, lungs, or kidneys. Women are four times as likely to have scleroderma and the onset is between 30 and 50 years of age. However, anyone from infants to the elderly can have scleroderma. Possible risk factors include having certain gene variations as other family members, ethnic groups, exposure to certain medications or drugs, and already having another autoimmune disease, like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus or Sjogren's syndrome. (Source: https://www.scleroderma.org/site/SPageNavigator/patients_whatis.html;jsessionid=00000000.app30132b?NONCE_TOKEN=9B76519DF6B5819859319F0B63B805C9#.XheCGVVKhaQ , https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/scleroderma/symptoms-causes/syc-20351952 )

DIAGNOSING: A physical exam will be conducted as well as a blood test to check for elevated levels of antibodies the immune system produced. The doctor will also take a sample of skin to be tested in the lab. If there are complaints about internal pain, the doctor may run other tests, including imaging, organ function, and other blood tests. (Source: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/scleroderma/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20351957 )

NEW TECHNOLOGY: A new stem cell transplant that's commonly known to treat cancer is improving the quality and quantity of life for those with scleroderma. Rheumatologists at University of Wisconsin Health tested the treatment since they have already been conducting bone marrow transplants for decades. Surgeons take out a sample of the patient's bone marrow, isolate the stem cells, and use radiation and chemotherapy to clean out their immune system. The same stem cells are later injected back into the patient's immune system with the hope that new cells will grow and the system is rid of the bad ones. The process is dangerous when the cells are taken out because the patient's immune system is more vulnerable, making infections more likely to occur. However, after four and a half years, 79% of patients that underwent the treatment were alive without serious complications compared to 50% that were treated with the original drugs. (Source: https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/health-med-fit/man-with-severe-autoimmune-disease-gets-stem-cell-transplant-at/article_7e8e17a5-21da-52f8-b728-fe584dab2b77.html)

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New technique developed to treat hardening of internal organs - WNDU-TV

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According to the latest report published by Credence Research, Inc.Anemia Treatment Drugs Market Growth, Future Prospects, and Competitive Analysis, 2018-2026,the global Anemia Treatment Drugs market was valued at USD 23,155.8 million in 2017 and is expected to grow at CAGR by 16.4 percent in the 2018 to 2026 forecast period.

Market Insights

According to the American Society of Hematology, anemia is the most common hematological disorder, affecting more than 3 million Americans every year. The global scenario is more serious because the World Health Organization states that around 1.62 billion people worldwide are affected by anemia, which is equal to 22.5 percent of the global population. In addition to the highest prevalence of anemia in pre-school children, men have the lowest prevalence. In addition, the highest number of individuals affected by pre-school anemia are non-pregnant women, which is approximately 31.2% of the total anemic population. Treatment depends specifically on the type of anemia and other complications associated with it. Currently, anemia is specifically targeted at supplements and chronic conditions are directly treated with blood transfusion, stem cell transplantation or bone marrow transplantation.

Browse Full Report Originally Published by Credence Research at https://www.credenceresearch.com/report/anemia-treatment-drugs-market

The major types of anemia that are treated with drugs include irondeficiency anemia, thalassemia, aplastic anemia, hemolytic anemia, sickle cellanemia, and pernicious anemia. In 2017, iron deficiency anemia and sickle cellanemia together dominated the market, accounting for almost 60% of the marketshare. The key factors responsible for the growth of these two types of anemiaare the highest prevalence of sickle cell anemia and aplastic anemia, and theavailable drug treatment costs more than other types. These two types of anemiaare expected to remain dominant throughout the forecast period due to theexpected market entry of more than 10 molecules during the forecast period from2018 to 2026.

The anemia drug market includes drugs such as vitamins & iron supplements, antibiotics, immunosuppressants, bone marrow stimulants, corticosteroids, gene therapy & iron chelating agents. In 2017, immunosuppressive and corticosteroids accounted for a combined market share of 58 percent due to key market driving factors such as increasing anemia prevalence, increasing anemia-related awareness at the initiative of government and non-government organizations, and continuing advances in the research and development of the anemia treatment industry. The anemia drug line is very strong and several prominent players are present along with their promising molecules. The most efficient molecules in the drug pipeline are FG-4592/roxadustat (FibroGen), Daprodustat / GSK1278863 (GlaxoSmithKline), Molidustat / BAY85-3934 (Bayer), Rivipansel (Pfizer), Luspatercept (Celgene), OMS721 (Omeros Corporation) and LentiGlobin BB305 (bluebird bio). As a result, a strong drug pipeline is expected to drive the overall market for anemia treatment drugs significantly throughout the forecast period.

Market CompetitionAssessment:

The anemia treatment drug market is expected to grow significantly in the near future and there are several companies operating in this market and expected to enter the market. The overall competitive scenario is expected to observe a paradigm shift towards gene therapy & monoclonal antibody therapies.

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Key Market Movements:

List of CompaniesCovered:

Market Segmentation:

By Anemia Type Segment

Iron deficiency anemia

Thalassemia

Aplastic anemia

Hemolytic anemia

Sickle cell anemia

Pernicious anemia

By Drug Type Segment

Supplements

Antibiotics

Immunosuppressant

Bone Marrow Stimulants

Corticosteroids

Gene Therapy

Iron Chelating Agents

By Geography SegmentType

Access Free Sample Copy of Research Report: https://www.credenceresearch.com/sample-request/59597

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Anemia Treatment Drugs Market (16.4% CAGR) 2018 to 2026: Global Industry Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast - Mobile Computing Today

February 28, 2020, 8:46 PM

6 min read

Over four decades after a woman was sexually assaulted and killed, a suspect has finally been identified through the new, but growing, investigative tool of genetic genealogy.

Naomi Sanders was found sexually assaulted and strangled to death on Feb. 27, 1973 inside her apartment in Vallejo, California, about 30 miles outside San Francisco.

Sanders, 57, lived alone and was the onsite manager for the apartment complex, the Vallejo Police Department said.

Naomi Sanders is seen in an undated photo released by the Vallejo Police Department with a release that an investigation into her 1973 murder has used genetic genealogy to lead them to a suspect.

But the years ticked by without progress in her case.

In 2014, forensic testing was completed on the clothes Sanders was wearing when she was killed, and analysts found a semen stain, said police.

A DNA profile was developed from the stain and entered into the law enforcement database Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) -- but there was no match, police said.

Detectives said they continued to run the DNA profile against new people when they were added to CODIS, still without a match.

In 2016, detectives tried familial DNA technology, which allowed them to search the California DNA database and wider DNA databases in other states for people related to the unknown suspect, police said. Again, they didn't get a hit.

Police said the break in the case finally came when authorities started to look into genetic genealogy in 2018.

Through genetic genealogy, an unknown killer's DNA left at a crime scene can be identified through his or her family members, who voluntarily submit their DNA to a genealogy database. This allows police to create a much larger family tree than using law enforcement databases like CODIS.

Genetic genealogy first came to light as an investigative tool in April 2018 when the suspected "Golden State Killer" was arrested through the technique. Since then, over 100 suspects have been identified through the technology, according to Parabon NanoLabs Chief Genetic Genealogist CeCe Moore, who worked on the Sanders case.

After working through the family tree of Sanders' unknown killer in April 2019, analysts were able to zero-in on two persons of interest, authorities said.

Detectives went to Louisiana in 2019 where they collected a discarded item from one of those persons of interest, police said. They tested the DNA from that item, but didn't get a match, so they eliminated the man as a suspect, police said.

That left police with the second person of interest -- who was dead and had been cremated, they said.

Authorities contacted one of his sons and collected his DNA, which determined that Sanders' suspected killer was Robert Dale Edwards, the Vallejo police announced Thursday.

Robert Dale Edwards is pictured in an undated image released by the Vallejo Police Department with a statement that they used DNA to established him as the suspect in the 1973 murder of Naomi Sanders in Vallejo, Calif. Edwards died in 1993.

Edwards was a 22-year-old living in Vallejo at the time of the crime, police said. Detectives learned that Edwards' father was a co-worker of Sanders, police said.

He had a criminal history, including attempted murder, assault and domestic violence, police said.

Edwards died in 1993 of a drug overdose, police said.

Sanders' family released a statement through the police department, saying so many relatives over the last 46 years "have also passed, and, unfortunately, they cannot be afforded the truth as to what happened."

"Those of us who do remember the stories of Naomi's life and untimely death can now feel closure thanks to the determination and teamwork of the Vallejo Police Department and partnering law enforcement agencies," the family said.

"May Naomi now rest in peace," her family said.

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She was sexually assaulted and killed in 1973. Now genetic genealogy identified a suspect. - ABC News

WEST PALM BEACH, FL Migraine prevalence was significantly higher among patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) compared with healthy controls, with several genetic variants being shared between migraine and MS, according to research presented at the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) 2020 Forum held from February 27 to 29, 2020, in West Palm Beach, Florida. Several variants were found to increase migraine risk but decrease MS risk; these findings may lead to improvements in targeted treatments and therapies.

Although symptoms and risk factors for migraine and MS often overlap, and up to 69% of patients with MS suffer migraine, it is unknown whether these 2 disorders are independent or have a common biological etiology, such as genetics. The current study used data on 1094 patients with MS and 12,176 control participants who were Kaiser Permanente Northern California Health Plan members to investigate if any genetic variants independently associated with migraine or MS could be identified from genome-wide association studies that are shared between both conditions.

Migraine status was determined via self-report and validated electronic health record algorithm. Prior genome-wide association studies of MS or migraine were used to identify variants, and after quality control, investigators analyzed 902 variants with minor allele frequency greater than 1%. Observed and permuted P for each phenotype were obtained from logistic regression and compared with identify variants associated with both phenotypes. Logistic regression models were adjusted for sex and ancestry among any variants that had significant associations with both phenotypes.

The migraine model was adjusted for a propensity score representing the probability of MS case-control status to account for potential ascertainment bias from obtaining a secondary phenotype from a case-control study.

Among the 1094 patients with MS, the mean age was 49.95 years old (SD=9.02) compared with 49.01 years old (SD=8.92) for controls. Women made up 79.98% of MS cases and 80.60% of controls. Median MS Severity Score was 3.21 (SD=2.43). Migraine incidence was significantly higher (P <.05) among MS cases (40%) compared with controls (29%). Preliminary results found 5 genetic variants (rs6677309, rs10801908, rs1335532, rs62420820, and rs17066096) that were significantly associated (P <.05) with both MS and migraine. Three of these were protective for MS (rs6677309, rs10801908, and rs1335532), and all variants increased odds of migraine.

Study investigators concluded, Results showed the prevalence of migraine was significantly higher among individuals with MS compared [with] healthy controls.Several genetic variants were shared between MS and migraine, and implicated genes include CD58, which modulates regulatory T-cells, and several immune genes (IL20RA, IL22RA2, IFNGR1 and TNFAIP3) within the 6q23 chromosomal region. Because several variants increase risk of migraine but decrease risk of MS, there may be implications for targeted therapies and treatments.

Visit Neurology Advisors conference section for continuous coverage from the ACTRIMS 2020 Forum.

Reference

Horton M, Robinson S, Shao X, et al. Discovery of shared genetic variants associated with multiple sclerosis and migraine. Presented at: 5th Annual Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) Forum; February 27-29, 2020; West Palm Beach, FL. Abstract P140.

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Shared Genetic Variants Associated With Migraine and Multiple Sclerosis - Neurology Advisor

SELBYVILLE, Del., Feb. 27, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Market Insights, Inc. has recently added a new report on genetic testing market which estimates the global market valuationfor genetic testing will cross US$ 28.5 billion by 2026. A growing demand for DTC genetic testing will drivemarket expansion over the forecast period. Genetic testing can project the risk of diseases, identify carriers and establish diagnoses. DTC genetic testing can help individuals identify ancestral origins and predisposition to certain illnesses. This can enable individuals to prepare or prevent the onset of certain diseases. Increasing awareness among people regarding their health will drive industry growth.

Growing adoption of genetic testing in oncology and genetic diseases in North America will propel the market expansion. Genetic testing to determine the probability of cancer and rare diseases helps in planning the treatment. Genetic testing helps in the formulation of the most effective treatment for cancer and other diseases. Hence, the growing application of genetic testing in cancer and genomic disorders will fuel the genetic testing market growth.

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Nutrigenomic testing was valued at USD 408.9 million in 2019 and will witness significant growth over the forecast period. Nutrigenomic testing determines how genetic variations change the individual reaction to nutrients. Nutrigenomic can assist with optimum nutritional planning. Rising incidence of obesity due to increased consumption of junk food and sedentary lifestyle will fuel the segment growth over the forecast period. Furthermore, growing awareness regarding customized diets will fuel market growth.

The cancer testing market held nearly 52% market share in 2019 and will exhibit robust growth in the forecast period. The growth can be attributed to the advancements in genetic testing that can confirm the diagnosis. Furthermore, genetic testing can help with the formulation of the most effective drugs for the treatment of cancer, improving patient outcomes. These factors will boost the growth of the cancer testing segment.

The European genetic testing market held a substantial value in 2019 and is poised to exhibit nearly 13% CAGR over the forecast period. The growing geriatric population will boostdemand for genetic testing in the region. Furthermore, presence of key market players in the region will positively impact the technology adoption. Additionally, favorable government initiatives to harmonize genetic testing and ensure accurate and reliable results will boost market growth.

Browse key industry insights spread across 146 pages with 138 market data tables & 8 figures & charts from the report, "Genetic Testing Market Share & Forecast, 2020 2026" in detail along with the table of contents:

https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/genetic-testing-market

Some major findings of the genetic testing market report include:

Few notable players in the genetic testing market share are 23andME, Abbott Molecular, Bayer Diagnostics, Cepheid, Counsyl, PacBio, Illumina Inc., Qiagen, Roche Diagnostics, BioCartis, and Siemens. The market players are adopting strategies such as innovative product launches and acquisitions to expand their customer base and market share.

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Partial chapters of report table of contents (TOC):

Chapter 2. Executive Summary

2.1. Genetic testing industry 360synopsis, 2015 - 2026

2.1.1. Business trends

2.1.2. Test-type trends

2.1.3. Application trends

2.1.4. Regional trends

Chapter 3. Genetic Testing Industry Insights

3.1. Industry segmentation

3.2. Industry landscape, 2015 - 2026

3.3. Industry impact forces

3.3.1. Growth drivers

3.3.1.1. Physician adoption of genetic tests into clinical care

3.3.1.2. Technological advancements and availability of new tests

3.3.1.3. Growing application of genetic testing in oncology and genetic diseases in North America

3.3.1.4. Consumer interest in personalized medicines in Europe

3.3.1.5. Growing demand for direct-to-consumer genetic testing

3.3.2. Industry pitfalls & challenges

3.3.2.1. High costs of genetic testing

3.3.2.2. Dearth of experienced professionals and advanced infrastructure in developing and underdeveloped economies

3.4. Growth potential analysis

3.4.1. By test type

3.4.2. By application

3.5. Regulatory landscape

3.5.1. U.S.

3.5.2. Europe

3.6. Market share analysis, 2018

3.6.1. Market share analysis, by North America, 2018

3.6.2. Market share analysis, by Europe, 2018

3.6.3. Market share analysis, by Asia Pacific, 2018

3.6.4. Market share analysis, by Latin America, 2018

3.6.5. Market share analysis, by Middle East & Africa, 2018

3.7. Porter's analysis

3.8. Competitive landscape, 2018

3.8.1. Strategy dashboard

3.9. PESTEL analysis

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genetic-testing-market-size-will.jpg Genetic Testing Market size will exceed $28.5 Bn by 2026 Genetic Testing Market size slated to surpass USD 28.5 billion by 2026, according to a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc.

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Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing Market

Prenatal and New-born Genetic Testing Market

SOURCE Global Market Insights, Inc.

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Genetic Testing Market demand to hit USD 28.5 Bn by 2026: Global Market Insights, Inc. - PRNewswire

Newswise Recent advances in computing enable researchers to explore the life sciences in ways that would have been impossible a few decades ago. One new tool is the ability to sequence genomes, revealing peoples full DNA blueprints. The collection of more and more genetic data allows researchers to compare the DNA of many people and observe variations, including those shared by people with a common ancestry.

Sohini Ramachandran, Ph.D., is director of the Center for Computational Molecular Biology and associate professor of biology and computer science at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. She is also a recent recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). Dr. Ramachandran researches the causes and consequences of human genetic variations using computer models. Starting with genomic data from living people, her lab applies statistical methods, mathematical modeling, and computer simulations to discover how human populations moved and changed genetically over time.

Sohini Ramachandran, Brown University. Credit: Danish Saroee/Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study.

Dr. Ramachandran and her team focus on further uncovering how the genetic architecture, or composition of traits, varies among people with different ancestries. Variations in the genetic composition of disease-causing genes can make individuals respond differently to the same therapy, and understanding these variations could help doctors recommend the best treatment for each patient.

Many of the large genome-wide association studies that have looked for the basis of traits or diseases have been in populations of European ancestry, with the assumption that their genetic architecture is the same across populations. However, this isnt necessarily the case. Most diseases are caused by the interaction of many genetic variants. As a result, people who have different ancestries and the same disease may share some disease-causing variants but have population-specific variants that also play a role in the disease.

Dr. Ramachandran is excited to bring her knowledge of human evolutionary histories into studying genetic variation to better understand and potentially treat diseases and to identify adaptive mutations. She says evolutionary histories can help researchers make sense of data from the genome-wide association studies used to investigate diseases, understand why results from these studies are often difficult to replicate, and determine if results apply only to certain populations. The genome-wide association studies have a lot of downstream effects because some of the results from these studies are affecting decisions that are being made in clinics, and its not clear if those results are relevant to everyone, she says.

For Dr. Ramachandran, receiving a PECASE highlights the importance of statistical and computational work in human genetics and disease and reinforces the value of including evolutionary biology in modern medical practices.

Dr. Ramachandrans research is supported in by part NIGMS grants R01GM118652 and P20GM109035.

Read this article:
PECASE Honoree Sohini Ramachandran Studies the Genetic Foundations of Traits in Diverse Populations - Newswise

IRDiRChad two goals to achieve by 2020: to contribute to the development of 200 new therapies - which you have exceeded and to facilitate the diagnosis of most rare diseases. How are you faring?

'We surpassed the goal for new therapies in 2016. There has been a great deal of progress in diagnosis too. In 2010 there was a genetic test available for 2,200 rare diseases, and by 2019 that figure was over 4,000. There is still some way to go.

'There are several thousand (rare diseases; more than 6,000 have been found so far), which seems really daunting. But we are in a new era of systems biology (which tries to understand the body as a whole) and international cooperation that is delivering great progress towards diagnosing and treating more and more of these diseases.'

Do most rare diseases have a genetic cause?

'Genetics is estimated to account for between 70% and 80% of all rare diseases. Those that are left dont yet have a name and have not yet been associated with a genetic variation (which would allow a diagnostic test), but often there is some family history that suggests they are genetic.

'There are also some rare infectious diseases, rare autoimmune diseases and rare cancers that are not genetic in origin. And these are trickier to diagnose.'

What exactly are we talking about when we say a disease is rare?

'There is a legal definition for rare diseases, but it is different depending on where you are in the world. A disease is considered rare in Europe if it affects fewer than one in 2,000 people. In the US, however, a rare disease is one that affects fewer than 200,000 people over the whole population. This means there is a subset of diseases close to the threshold that are considered rare in one country but not in another. But most rare diseases are a lot rarer than that. Some of the rarest affect just 10 in a million people. They are the rare among the rare.'

What difference can a diagnosis make to patients?

'Giving a name to a disease is a major step forward for patients and families, even if it doesnt bring an immediate benefit to their quality of life. From my personal experience here in Italy, we see families spend years on what is called the diagnostic odyssey, wandering from one hospital and test to another. Having a diagnosis allows them to close this page of their lives where they are in total darkness. And while there might not be a therapy available, the diagnosis can relate the disease to a group of other diseases where a standard of care is already available, such as using diet, physiotherapy and palliative care.

'It also has a social impact as it allows families to connect to others with similar problems, and they can share experiences with each other. One parent might find their child sleeps better if they do something with them before bed, or give them particular exercises. So, it brings improvements in everyday life. It also brings some hope of an end solution of a treatment or a cure, although many parents are realistic about how long this may take.'

How exactly are you helping more rare diseases to be diagnosed?

'There are two developments that have really accelerated the identification of genetic defects associated with rare diseases.

'The first is next generation sequencing, which allows large-scale genetic analysis to be done far more rapidly than it was before. The other is tools that allow the comparison of results from patients that live very far away. One of these, known as the Matchmaker Exchange, means that a clinical centre in Italy, for example, might associate a clinical manifestation with a genetic alteration through sequencing. But to prove it is the cause of the disease, they need to match the same genetic alteration to the same clinical manifestation in other patients. But those patients could be in Mexico or Japan. The Matchmaker Exchange allows data from patients in different parts of the world to be combined and so is accelerating the ability to confirm whether a certain disease is associated with a certain genetic defect.'

What challenges are there?

'At the moment, most of the analysis is done in parts of the genome that code for proteins, known as the exome, but that is only a small part of the DNA (about 1.5%). To find the genetic cause of all diseases (that have one) we need to look outside the exome, which is becoming possible now with whole genome sequencing.'

Some of the rarest (diseases) affect just 10 in a million people. They are the rare among the rare.

Dr Lucia Monaco, Chair, International Rare Diseases Research Consortium.

What about diseases that dont have a genetic cause?

'Some (rare diseases that are not genetic in origin) can be caused by errors as DNA is transcribed into RNA before producing proteins, or alterations in the proteins themselves. Diseases can also be caused by the metabolites produced in the cells by the action of enzymes, for example.

'Advances in the omics (the sciences that study all the cell metabolites, proteins or encoding instructions in the body) is making inroads here, particularly thanks to the computing systems able to handle the data involved, but nowhere near as much as we have with genomics (the first omics field to be developed).'

2020 was the target date for your last set of goals, so whats next?

'In 2017, the IRDiRC set a new goal of getting 1,000 new therapies approved for rare diseases by 2027. It has built three scientific committees that are working on therapies, diagnosis and interdisciplinary fields such as data sharing and sharing biological samples. Their job is to identify the strategic questions that need to be addressed, identify tools or make recommendations to health bodies, funders and policymakers.

'One of the other areas of focus I find particularly interesting is the problems faced by indigenous populations. Diagnosing a disease that requires the symptoms to be described in a way that another doctor using another language will be able to recognise. This is relatively simple if we all work in English in the developed world. But it is far harder in the developing world, particularly among populations that have indigenous languages. These are the most neglected of the neglected as their symptoms are not even addressed in their language.'

The research in this article was funded by the EU. If you liked this article, please consider sharing it on social media.

Rare diseases are individually rare but when you count them together around 30 million people in the EU suffer from one. There are several challenges in diagnosing and treating these conditions, including the fact that medical experts in a particular disease may not be local to the patient, the challenge of finding enough people to run trials for drugs, and the fact that pharmaceutical companies have little incentive to spend time and money developing products that will only help a small amount of people.

To support research and innovation into rare diseases, the EU has provided 1.4 billion to more than 200 projects over the last 13 years. Initiatives include E-Rare, now in its third iteration, a network of 23funding agencies from17 countries to fund transnational research.

In 2019, the EU launched the European Joint Programme in Rare Diseases an alliance between 130 institutions from 35 countries to improve the quality and take-up of rare disease research and develop an efficient way of funding the research. They also established a group of virtual networks for rare disease patients to allow them to benefit from medical expertise from all over the EU. The consortium works with several so-called European Reference Networks, virtual groups of healthcare professionals providing highly specialised care in areas such as epilepsies, rare neurodegenerative diseases and paediatric cancer.

See the original post here:
Q&A: 'We can diagnose more than 4000 rare diseases but there's still a long way to go' - Horizon magazine

Several years ago, Richard Neher, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Basel in Switzerland, and his colleagues wanted to monitor changes to the flus genetic makeup to see if the data would help scientists build more-effective flu vaccines. They developed an online interface and published the results in a publicly available interactive web browser.

Now, theyve adapted it to keep track of the genetic tweaks to SARS-CoV-2 as the virus moves from major hotspots in China to smaller pockets in other countries.

The Scientist: How do viral genomes sequences from swabs taken from infected patients help you build a family tree of the virus?

Richard Neher: These coronavirsuses tend to change their genome, they mutate, at a fairly high rate. As time goes on, the lineages pick up independent mutations, and then they cause outbreaks in different parts of the world.

TS: What can the data tell you about the viruss origins?

RN: The first takeaway is that all these sequences are very, very similar, about eight mutations different than the root. Thats eight mutations in a 30,000-base sequence. What this tells us is that the virus came from one source, not too long ago, somewhere between mid-November and early December.

Read the original post

Continued here:
Tracking the global spread of the coronavirus through its genetic signature - Genetic Literacy Project

A rare disease is defined as any disease that affects a small percentage of the population. In the United States, a disease is classified as rare when fewer than 200,000 individuals are affected by it. According to the National Institutes of Health, there are approximately 6,500 to 7,000 known rare diseases affecting an estimated 25 million Americans.

One of these is Loeys-Dietz Syndrome (LDS), a disorder of connective tissue that can affect blood vessels, including the aorta, as well as bones, joints, cognitive ability and internal organs.

Here, Michigan Medicine cardiologist Marion Hofmann, M.D., who typically treats 10 to 15 Loeys-Dietz patients each year, sheds some light on this complex rare disease.

LDS is caused by a mutation in the TGFBR1, TGFBR2, SMAD3, TGFB2 or TGFB3 genes, as we know today. More could be identified in the future.

Loeys-Dietz Syndrome is a genetic condition, but not always inherited. In patients with the condition, we usually recommend genetic testing of the parents and siblings to see if it is inherited or if it is a new mutation. If the parent or siblings of a patient diagnosed with LDS do not test positive for the genetic variant, we assume the variant is present for the first time in one family member. This occurs in approximately 75% of LDS cases. There is a 50% chance the gene will be passed on regardless of whether LDS was inherited or a first time mutation.

Because relatively common symptoms can camouflage LDS, the condition may go undiagnosed until a serious complication occurs. Patients might be diagnosed with Loeys-Dietz after an aortic aneurysm (a weakened or bulging area on the wall of the aorta) is found on a CT scan or echocardiogram, or after experiencing a life-threatening aortic dissection (a tear in the inner layer of the aorta) or a dissection in other arteries. If a patient experiences either of these vascular conditions, we would likely suggest genetic testing to determine if Loeys-Dietz Syndrome was the cause.

In approximately 20% of patients experiencing an unexplained aortic dissection, we find gene abnormalities, including LDS, that predispose to aortic disease.

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Some patients, but not all, are diagnosed because of certain skeletal characteristics that point to Loeys-Dietz. These include a chest wall deformity in which the chest wall pushes outward or appears sunken, scoliosis, long and slender fingers, flexible joints, flat feet, translucent skin, abnormal scarring of the skin and a bulging or widening of the spinal sac surrounding the spinal cord. However, the spectrum of the disease is very broad and were finding that not all LDS patients exhibit these characteristics.

Genetic testing confirms a suspected LDS diagnosis. Other similar disorders such as Marfan Syndrome and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome can present similar characteristics, so genetic testing is important to differentiate these disorders. In recent years weve realized just how complex LDS is. As clinical genetic testing is more commonly used, diagnostic accuracy for LDS has improved and were learning more about how LDS presents. For example, were finding that family members carrying the same mutation are affected differently. Cardiac and genetic evaluation of all family members is important for patients with LDS to identify other relatives at risk for the condition.

Patients with Loeys-Dietz need regular checkups and vascular imaging to identify high-risk situations that could lead to aortic dissection. We recommend medication to avoid high blood pressure, which puts stress on weakened areas of the aortic wall, lifestyle modifications and preventive surgery to treat aortic aneurysms deemed to be at high risk for dissection. Patients with LDS are typically prescribed beta blockers or angiotensin receptor blockers.

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Anyone experiencing an aortic dissection or an aneurysm requires lifelong care as they are more likely to have a future event. Patients with LDS require special counseling for family planning and during pregnancy.

Additional information comes from nationwide patient support groups and their symposiums. The U-M Frankel Cardiovascular Center, in collaboration with the Marfan Foundation, is hosting the Detroit regional symposium for Marfan Syndrome and related disorders on April 25, 2020.

Weve been able to gain important knowledge about LDS and other aortic-related conditions through worldwide collaboration of researchers interested in LDS and aortic dissection in general. The International Registry on Aortic Dissection was launched in 1996 and the Montalcino Aortic Consortium was formed in 2013 to collect and share information about the genetic causes of aortic dissection. The next GenTAC Aortic Summit, which is committed to advancing research, education and treatment of heritable aortic diseases, will be held October 10 and 11, 2020, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and will be hosted by Michigan Medicine cardiologist Kim Eagle, M.D. Through these resources, were learning more about the condition and gaining insight into diagnosis and treatment advancements.

Importantly, 10-20% of patients with a history of what was thought to be sporadic or unexplained aortic dissections actually have an identifiable genetic cause, including LDS. Being able to pinpoint the genetic causes of disease is very powerful. It allows health care providers to use a gene-based medical management strategy, which is the goal of personalized medicine. Genetic counseling and potentially genetic testing is very important for family members of patients with unexplained aortic dissections as well as with Loeys-Dietz Syndrome.

Read the original post:
Loeys-Dietz Syndrome A Rare and Complex Heart Disease - University of Michigan Health System News

Updated: May 25, 2018:

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Its long been thought that some people find exercising easier than others.

While some will happily jog off to the gym, others are left daunted by the prospect of doing anything that might cause perspiration or shortness of breath.

This might not just be a theory after all.

Scientists have found a link between certain genes and a persons ability to exercise efficiently.

Read more: Vogue Williams shared post-baby exercise tips

The research, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, discovered a genetic mutation in some people which made it harder for them to workout.

The genetic mutation can affect cellular oxygen sensing which is linked to a persons ability to exercise effectively.

The team involved in the research - which included researchers from King's College London - found that people with the gene had reduced rate of growth, persistent low blood sugar, a limited exercise capacity and a very high number of red blood cell.

In order to try to figure out why people with a limited exercise capacity behaved the way they did, the researchers tested one case study.

Read more: The top rated fitness trackers

After numerous tests - which included a genetic analysis and high-altitude testing - the scientists discovered that the mutated gene in question was the von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) gene.

The VHL gene plays an important role in our genetic make up, primarily because it helps our cells survive when our ability to take in oxygen is reduced.

The scientists found that the VHL gene was impaired in some people who struggle to exercise.

Thats because this gene is linked to the mitochondria and when the mitochondria isnt firing on all cylinders - which is the case in people with a mutated VHL - then it makes it harder to exercise.

Read more: Experts say we should walk during our lunch breaks

Dr Federico Formenti, School of Basic & Medical Biosciences, one of the leading authors of the study, said: The discovery of this mutation and the associated phenotype is exciting because it enables a deeper understanding of human physiology, especially in terms of how the human body senses and responds to reduced oxygen availability.

It also goes a long way to explain why some people can train and run a marathon whilst others would struggle with training, even if they were mentally motivated enough to complete it.

More research will need to be done in order to determine just how much this gene can affect people, but its a great step in the right direction for the study of human physiology.

See the original post:
Blame it on your genes - a genetic mutation reduces the ability to exercise - Yahoo Lifestyle

FOLSOM, Calif. According to a new epidemiologicalstudy, women in their late 50s and early 60s who consumed at least two servings of walnuts per week had a greater likelihood of healthy aging compared to those who did not eat walnuts. After accounting for various factors that could impact health in older adults, such as education and physical activity, walnuts were the only nut associated with significantly better odds of healthy aging.

In this study, which was supported by the California Walnut Commission,healthy aging was defined as longevity with sound mental health and no major chronic diseases, cognitive issues or physical impairments following the age of 65. Researchers found a significant association between total nut consumption (including walnuts, peanuts and other nuts) and healthy aging, but the link was particularly robust for walnuts.

By 2034, for the first time ever,older adults will outnumber children. Baby boomers (those 65 and older) are expected to make up 21% of the population, with more than half being women. The significance of this demographic turning point in our countrys history is clear research that examines the aging process, including simple, low-cost interventions like healthy food choices, will be especially crucial to healthier lifespans.

Previous research from primary investigator Dr.Francine Grodstein, formerly of Brigham and Womens Hospital, has found that eating walnuts may have a positive impact on reducing the risk for physical impairments in older adults as well as cognitive decline. Additionally, others in the same research group have found decreases in cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes all conditions that become more common as we age. There is no one solution to slowing down the effects of aging, but adopting the right habits, like snacking on a handful of walnuts, can help.

In this study, Grodstein looked at data from 33,931 women in the Nurses Health Study (NHS) to evaluate the association between nut consumption and overall health and well-being in aging. Between 1998-2002, female nurses in the NHS were asked about their diet (including total nut consumption); evaluated for chronic diseases (such as cancer, heart attack, heart failure, stroke, type 2 diabetes and Parkinsons disease); and assessed for memory concerns, mental health and physical limitations (including daily activities like walking one block, climbing a flight of stairs, bathing, dressing oneself and pushing a vacuum cleaner). Of the study participants, 16% were found to be healthy agers, defined as having no major chronic diseases, reported memory impairment or physical disabilities as well as having intact mental health.

Althoughprevious researchhas connected a healthy diet, including walnuts, to better physical function among older men and women, this study only included women. More research is needed to understand if these results hold true among men. Additionally, participants were not assigned to eat walnuts or other foods; they were simply asked about their dietary choices. It is possible that subjects misreported their dietary intake since this information was collected by questionnaires. As an observational study, this does not prove cause and effect. However, this research sheds light on simple habits that can influence health during later years in life such as eating walnuts.

The California Walnut Commission (CWC) supported this research. The CWC has supported health-related research on walnuts for more than 30 years with the intent to provide knowledge and understanding of the unique health benefits associated with consuming walnuts. While the CWC does provide funds and/or walnuts for various projects, all studies are conducted independently by researchers who design the experiments, interpret the results and present evidence-based conclusions. The CWC is committed to scientific integrity of industry-funded research.

TheCaliforniawalnut industry is made up of over 4,800 growers and more than 90 handlers (processors). The growers and handlers are represented by two entities, the California Walnut Board (CWB) and the California Walnut Commission (CWC).

California Walnut CommissionThe California Walnut Commission, established in 1987, is funded by mandatory assessments of the growers. The CWC represents over 4,800 growers and approximately 90 handlers (processors) ofCaliforniawalnuts in export market development activities and conducts health research. The CWC is an agency of theState of Californiathat works in concurrence with the Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA).

Non-Discrimination StatementThe CWC prohibits discrimination in all programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, sex, marital/familial/parental status, religion, sexual orientation, political beliefs, reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity, or because all or part of an individuals income is derived from any public assistance programs.

Persons with limited English proficiency or disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (translated materials, braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact the CWC offices at (916) 932-7070.

To file a complaint of discrimination, complete the USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form, AD-3027, found online athttp://www.ascr.usda.gov/complaint_filing_cust.htmlor write a letter with all information requested in the form and either send to USDA, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W.,Washington, D.C.20250-9410, fax to (202) 690-7442, or email toprogram.intake@usda.gov. CWC is an equal opportunity employer and provider.

More:
Regular Walnut Consumption Linked to Health and Longevity in Women, According to New Study - PerishableNews

Craigslist founder Craig Newmark (L) and CEO Jim Buckmaster pose in front of the Craigslist office March 21, 2006 in San Francisco. The site has become a behemoth but changed little aesthetically. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption

Craigslist founder Craig Newmark (L) and CEO Jim Buckmaster pose in front of the Craigslist office March 21, 2006 in San Francisco. The site has become a behemoth but changed little aesthetically.

Craigslist is a bit of an anomaly on the rapidly changing Internet. While other sites are constantly tweaking, testing new designs, finding new ways to gather data, Craigslist is remarkable for its stability.

A typical city's page looks roughly the same today as it did 15 years ago.

"It's like a shark that's never had to evolve," says Jessa Lingel, who's written about the history of Craigslist for the website The Conversation and also in the book, An Internet for the People: The Politics and Promise of craigslist.

While maintaining an old-school look, Craigslist has since grown to the behemoth of today, with billions of page views a month and an estimated revenue (according to one consulting group) of more than $1 billion in 2018.

The site was founded by Craig Newmark, who started it as an email list to friends about happenings in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1995. Jim Buckmaster, Craigslist's CEO, has been in his job for two decades.

"They're both just old-school engineer type guys who just really believe in keeping the design as simple and functional as possible," Lingel says. "[I]t's never had a competitor that was really able to swallow up its user base. It's had loyal customers all along, loyal users all along, so it's just never been forced to adapt."

Craigslist doesn't run banner ads, and according to Lingel, it doesn't sell user data to third parties. It makes money by charging a small number of users to post ads.

"Ads like job postings, real estate ads, if you're like a car dealer, furniture dealer, you have to pay a small amount of money, we're talking like $5 to $25 and that's this entire revenue stream," Lingel says.

But for most people, it's totally free. It's become the biggest market for classified ads on the Internet.

Craigslist is also different for being anonymous. Authorities accused the site of facilitating prostitution; it dropped its longtime "personals" section in the U.S. two years ago after Congress passed the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, which aimed to crack down on child sex trafficking. Reports through the years describe Craigslist's role in helping accused killers, rapists, robbers and scammers find their victims.

As Craigslist celebrates 25 years this year, NPR's Mary Louise Kelly spoke to Lingel, who is also an assistant professor of communication at the University of Pennsylvania, about how the site has managed to keep on keeping on.

Interview highlights contain extended Web-only content.

On Craigslist users posting anonymously, contrary to sites such as Facebook

That policy goes back to Craigslist's early days in the 1990s when it was very common to be anonymous online or pseudonymous, you know, using pseudonyms or fake names. And just like they haven't changed their appearance, they have never let go of that policy. And they see that policy as providing a form of protection and privacy to their users.

So it is true that there have been some, you know, very violent crimes. There's been scams on Craigslist. But of course, there are also scams on platforms that we think of as much classier or much safer. There's scams on LinkedIn, on eBay, on Facebook. So it isn't so much that the anonymity means that crime happens. It just means that we have a policy to blame. So we do tend to blame the platform more when we can't point at individual users because we don't know anything about them.

On what she's learned about how Craigslist compares to other sites when it comes to discrimination

I heard over and over again this sense that Craigslist is part of the poor people's Internet. And what participants and people I interviewed meant by that was that Craigslist sort of has this stigma that using it means you're lower class, using it means you're sort of hard up. But it also meant that people of color, poor people, found that they could use the site in a way that really made sense for them.

So on a platform like Airbnb, for example, if you're trying to get a rental, people can discriminate against you based on how you look. We actually know for a fact that there have been these high-profile incidents on Airbnb of hosts discriminating against guests because of their name or what they look like.

So suddenly on a site like Craigslist, you can rent an apartment, you can try and search for a job. And you don't have to worry about people discriminating against you because you're anonymous.

On Craigslist and the future of the Internet

I've been studying digital culture for about 10 years and I've always been interested in platforms that are sort of outside the mainstream. And one thing that really interests me about Craigslist is that it's been online for so long, and it hasn't had to change its politics. So Craigslist holds onto these early 1990s Web values about a platform being truly accessible, the platform being open and a platform that doesn't change its appearance. And in that sense, Craigslist reminds us there's a path that a company can take, and it can feel democratic and it can feel less commercial and still be incredibly successful. You know, you don't have to sacrifice your profits in order to protect user data.

NPR's Elena Burnett and Emily Kopp produced and edited the audio version of this story.

Read the original:
At 25 Years, Understanding The Longevity Of Craigslist - NPR

A new study suggests olive oil could be integral to the Mediterranean diet's brilliance.

The diet, which US News & World Report ranked the best diet of 2019, has been linked to good health and longer lives.

According to new research by the University of Minnesota Medical School, olive oil alone, a staple ingredient of the diet, appears to have properties that promote longevity and decrease the risk of age-related disease like diabetes and heart disease.

Doug Mashek, the lead researcher, said that studying the way olive oil affected human cells in petri dishes indicated that the fats in olive oil activated cell pathways in the body that are linked to longer life.

"We found that the way this fat works is it first has to get stored in microscopic things called lipid droplets, which is how our cells store fat," Mashek said in a press release. "And then, when the fat is broken down during exercising or fasting, for example, is when the signaling and beneficial effects are realized."

Foods includingwhole-grain pita bread, fresh fruit, salads, nuts, beans, olive oil, and salmon are Mediterranean diet staples. Anna Kurzaeva/Getty Images

This isn't the first time the Mediterranean diet has been found beneficial for long-term health.

The concept of the Mediterranean diet comes from the countries that border the Mediterranean Sea, where people historically ate mainly vegetables, oily fish, nuts, and healthy fats. The Harvard School of Public Health and a think tank called Oldways created a diet based on the general eating principles of these places, according to US News.

Unlike highly restrictive diets like the keto diet or the Atkins diet, the Mediterranean diet allows people to eat a wide variety of foods in moderation. In fact, the diet is safe for most people, including children and older people.

Foods including whole-grain pita bread, fresh fruit, salads, nuts, beans, olive oil, and salmon are Mediterranean diet staples and promote a variety of health benefits.

When people fill their diets with the fresh, unprocessed foods found in the Mediterranean diet, they may lose weight, improve their heart health, and prevent diabetes, according to US News.

Since the diet focuses on heart-healthy fats like olive oil, avocado, and salmon, it also couldlower bad cholesterol, a major cause of heart disease, according to the Mayo Clinic. "The Mediterranean diet discourages saturated fats and hydrogenated oils (trans fats), both of which contribute to heart disease," the Mayo Clinic said on its website.

The diet could also help prevent cognitive diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's as well as breast cancer.

More:
There's evidence that exercise after consuming olive oil could trigger changes linked to longevity - Insider - INSIDER

Sci-fi aside, how long will I live?

Living to 100 will soon become a routine fact of (long) life. Life expectancies have been rising by up to three months a year since 1840 and although gains in the UK began to slow in 2011, it is still estimated that more than half the babies born in wealthier countries since 2000 may reach their 100th birthdays.

It is an impressive increase: in the early 1900s, the probability of a baby reaching 100 was 1%. A newborn in the UK today has a 50% chance of living to 105. There were 3,600 centenarians in 1986. Today there are some 15,000.

You do not have to be a newborn to benefit from this trend of increased longevity, though. A 60-year-old in the west today has an even chance of living to 90 and a 40-year-old can expect to live to 95.

But the longevity boost is not done yet: it is generally agreed that the natural ceiling to human life is somewhere around 115. Others say that even without cutting-edge AI or other technological wizardry, we could live far longer. Opinion broadly divides into three groups: the levellers who say we are at peak lifespan now. The extrapolators who argue that technology and education have made their biggest leaps but can squeak us up to a ceiling of 120 before levelling off for good. And the accelerators those determined to defeat ageing, who believe we are on the verge of major breakthroughs in scientific and technological research that will increase longevity, pushing us into the realms of immortality.

Life expectancy has been increasing since we cracked infant mortality in the 19th century. Economy, technology, healthcare and education have all combined with vaccines, safer childbirth and medical advances in the care of stroke and heart attack patients to keep the relentless pace of increasing longevity going strong.

But the growth in life expectancy began to slow in 2011 in the UK and people live longer in more than two dozen other countries.

There has not been a big medical or health gamechanger in the past couple of decades. While some argue that we should celebrate the longest lifespans that humans have ever attained, others warn that illness and infirmity risk turning long lives into slow, miserable declines.

In his essay on ageing, De Senectute, Cicero says there are four reasons why people write off old age: it stops you working, it makes your body weak, it denies you pleasure and every day is one step closer to death. Then he shows why each argument is wrong. The old retain their wits quite well, he notes, so long as they exercise them.

Dan Buettner coined the term blue zones for five regions he identified as having populations who live healthier and longer lives than others (they are Okinawa in Japan, Sardinia in Italy, the Nicoya peninsula in Costa Rica, Loma Linda in California and Ikaria in Greece). The diets of those living in these regions, he discovered, consist almost entirely of minimally processed plant-based foods mostly wholegrains, greens, nuts, tubers and beans. Meat is eaten, on average, five times a month. They drink mostly water, herbal teas, coffee and some wine. They drink little or no cows milk.

Other scientists have added different ideas to the mix. Sufficient sleep and a sense of purpose are important but exercise is key at least 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity each week, plus twice-weekly muscle-strengthening sessions, to reap health and longevity benefits.

Having said that, short bouts of light physical activity, such as walking and cleaning, have been shown to increase the lifespans of older people. And a study published last January found that simply moving instead of sitting for 30 minutes each day could reduce the risk of early death by 17%. Some research suggests that club sports such as tennis and soccer are best for longevity because they also encourage social interaction, another vital ingredient to longevity.

At conferences on longevity, it is immediately obvious during the morning breaks that the buffets remain largely untouched and that everyone drinks their tea and coffee inky black, disdaining even a drop of milk. Most serious seekers of longevity also practice both calorific fasting and intermittent fasting.

In a nutshell, the approach is to eat 30% fewer calories and fast for 16 hours a day, though this may not be appropriate for certain vulnerable groups. In essence, it means skipping breakfast and not making up for the missed meal during the day.

No one knows quite why intermittent fasting works. The best guess is that it has something to do with metabolic switching and cellular stress resistance causing the body to increase production of antioxidants.

Repeated studies on mice going back a century seem to prove that it works on rodents, at least. Last December, the New England Journal of Medicine reviewed all the studies in this area and concluded that a combination of fasting and calorific reduction does slow ageing, extend lifespan and counteract age-related disorders, including cardiovascular disease, cancers, diabetes and neurological disorders such as Alzheimers, Parkinsons and stroke. Animal models show that intermittent fasting improves health throughout the lifespan, the paper concluded.

The problem with gauging its efficacy on humans is that, as the paper said: It remains to be determined whether people can maintain intermittent fasting for years and potentially accrue the benefits seen in animal models.

US scientists are raising funds to launch a five-year clinical trial of a product called metformin, commonly prescribed for pre-diabetics and diabetics. Longevity advocates believe it may have a side effect slowing the development of age-related diseases.

Im not telling everyone to go out and take it until our clinical trial proves it does what I believe it does, said Dr Nir Barzilai, the director of the Institute for Ageing at New Yorks Albert Einstein College of Medicine. But if our trials come back with the results I expect then, yes, I believe everyone should take this drug.

Even more niche are the the promises of Dr Aubrey de Gray, a gerontologist who founded the Sens (Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence) Research Foundation with the goal of undoing ageing.

Sens is defined by a focus on repairing molecular and cellular damage rather than on merely slowing down its accumulation, he said. The logistics of indefinitely healthy ageing will, he believes, be simple and affordable: Mostly itll be injections once a decade.

The latest epigenetic clock, DNAm PhenoAge, will shortly hit the shelves. Epigenetic clocks a form of molecular augury were first developed in 2011 and claim to offer a glimpse into the future. By analysing the pattern of chemical chains that attach to the DNA in your cells, these clocks apparently reveal how swiftly you are ageing and perhaps even how much longer you will live.

The big sell with these tests is that while DNA is fixed at birth, our epigenetic patterns change according to our lifestyles. The promise of those who produce these clocks for commercial use is that they enable us to calibrate our ageing.

The tests havent been independently evaluated and do not need to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration but that has not stopped some life insurance companies using the tests to predict lifespans. Researchers have jumped on board, too, using the clocks to test anti-ageing drugs and to look for an anti-ageing diet.

Talk of immortality was outlaw science until a couple of decades ago but now it is attracting serious interest and big bucks: in 2013, Google invested $1.5bn (1.1bn) in an entire division, Calico, which is devoted to solving death. The PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel has given millions of dollars to De Greys foundation.

Instead of focusing on why, say, we get cancer or have a stroke and how to treat each distinct condition, this branch of medical research argues for all these conditions to be regarded as symptoms of one far larger and deadly disease: ageing itself. Instead of trying to treat all these different diseases that develop as people age, the argument goes, we should be trying to treat that one big disease. If we can do that, all the so-called age-related conditions that currently harm so many and cost so much will be by definition eradicated.

No one is saying it is going to be easy. This branch of research attempts to tackle ageing inside every cell of the body. In other words, change the whole genetic makeup of the human species. There are plenty of claims that we can already slow down the ageing of cells or senescence but the most radical adherents claim that the first person to live to 1,000 has already been born.

The Miracle of Fasting, Paul and Patricia Bragg

How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease, Michael Grege

The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Whove Lived the Longest, Dan Buettner

Lifespan: Why We Age and Why We Dont Have To, David Sinclair

The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer, Dr Elizabeth Blackburn and Dr Elissa Epel

100 Days to a Younger Brain, Dr Sabina Brennan

Read this article:
The 100-year life: how to prolong a healthy mind - The Guardian

In this study, the researchers looked at data from 33,931 women in the Nurses Health Study (NHS) to evaluate the association between nut consumption and overall health and well-being in ageing.

According to a new epidemiologicalstudy, women in their late 50s and early 60s who consumed at least two servings of walnuts per week had a greater likelihood of healthy ageing compared to those who did not eat walnuts. After accounting for various factors that could impact health in older adults, such as education and physical activity, walnuts were reportedly the only nut associated with significantly better odds of healthy ageing.

In this study, which was supported by the California Walnut Commission, healthy ageing was defined as longevity with sound mental health and no major chronic diseases, cognitive issues or physical impairments following the age of 65.

Previous research from primary investigator Dr. Francine Grodstein, formerly of Brigham and Womens Hospital, has found that eating walnuts may have a positive impact on reducing the risk for physical impairments in older adults as well as cognitive decline. Additionally, others in the same research group have found decreases in cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes all conditions that become more common as we age.

As part of this study, between 1998-2002, over 33,931 female nurses in the NHS were asked about their diet (including total nut consumption); evaluated for chronic diseases (such as cancer, heart attack, heart failure, stroke, type 2 diabetes and Parkinsons disease); and assessed for memory concerns, mental health and physical limitations (including daily activities like walking one block, climbing a flight of stairs, bathing, dressing oneself and pushing a vacuum cleaner). Of the study participants, 16 percent were found to be healthy agers, defined as having no major chronic diseases, reported memory impairment or physical disabilities as well as having intact mental health.

Althoughprevious researchhas connected a healthy diet, including walnuts, to better physical function among older men and women, this study only included women. More research is said to be needed to understand if these results hold true among men. Additionally, participants were not assigned to eat walnuts or other foods; they were simply asked about their dietary choices. It is possible that subjects misreported their dietary intake since this information was collected by questionnaires. As an observational study, this does not prove cause and effect. However, this research aims to shed light on simple habits that can influence health during later years in life such as eating walnuts.

Read more:
Walnut consumption linked to health and longevity in women, says study - New Food

AgeX Therapeutics, Inc. ("AgeX"; NYSE American: AGE), a biotechnology company focused on developing therapeutics for human aging and regeneration, announced a new paper co-authored by two AgeX scientists that could lead to new insights into the fundamental mechanisms of aging and why super-centenarians not only live the longest, but also experience extraordinary healthspans; an extension of the healthy years of life that compresses morbidity to a very short period near the end of life. The paper, "Induced pluripotency and spontaneous reversal of cellular aging in supercentenarian donor cells," is published online in the peer-reviewed scientific journal "Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications" from Elsevier. The senior author is Dana Larocca, PhD, VP of Discovery Research at AgeX, and the first author is Jieun Lee, PhD, Scientist at AgeX.

"Clearly, we can learn a lot about aging and longevity from the longest of the long-lived, the supercentenarians, and we hope that this paper accelerates such research," commented Dr. Larocca. "Now that we have converted the cells of one of the longest-lived people in history, a deceased 114-year-old American woman, to a young pluripotent state, researchers can do so with cells from other supercentenarians. The goal is to understand specifically how these "extreme agers" manage to avoid the major chronic illnesses of aging better than any other age group including centenarians. We can essentially put their cells in a time machine and revert them to an earlier state, then study their biology to help unlock the mysteries of super-longevity. Scientists have long wondered, and now we know that we can indeed reset the developmental state and cellular age in the oldest of the old."

By way of comparison, the paper also describes undertaking a similar process with cells from two other donors: an eight-year-old with a rapid-aging syndrome commonly known as Progeria, and a 43-year-old, healthy disease-free control (HDC) subject. The paper notes that the supercentenarians cells reverted to induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells at the same rate as the HDC subject and the Progeria patient. However, there may be some negative impact of extreme age on telomere resetting as this did not occur as frequently in the supercentenarian as in the other two donors.

The donated cells were from "the longevity collection," a cell bank established by the NIHs National Institute on Aging.

About AgeX Therapeutics

AgeX Therapeutics, Inc. (NYSE American: AGE) is focused on developing and commercializing innovative therapeutics for human aging. Its PureStem and UniverCyte manufacturing and immunotolerance technologies are designed to work together to generate highly-defined, universal, allogeneic, off-the-shelf pluripotent stem cell-derived young cells of any type for application in a variety of diseases with a high unmet medical need. AgeX has two preclinical cell therapy programs: AGEX-VASC1 (vascular progenitor cells) for tissue ischemia and AGEX-BAT1 (brown fat cells) for Type II diabetes. AgeXs revolutionary longevity platform induced Tissue Regeneration (iTR) aims to unlock cellular immortality and regenerative capacity to reverse age-related changes within tissues. AGEX-iTR1547 is an iTR-based formulation in preclinical development. HyStem is AgeXs delivery technology to stably engraft PureStem cell therapies in the body. AgeX is developing its core product pipeline for use in the clinic to extend human healthspan and is seeking opportunities to establish licensing and collaboration agreements around its broad IP estate and proprietary technology platforms.

For more information, please visit http://www.agexinc.com or connect with the company on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements that are not historical fact including, but not limited to statements that contain words such as "will," "believes," "plans," "anticipates," "expects," "estimates" should also be considered forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements and as such should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect the business of AgeX Therapeutics, Inc. and its subsidiaries particularly those mentioned in the cautionary statements found in more detail in the "Risk Factors" section of AgeXs Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commissions (copies of which may be obtained at http://www.sec.gov). Subsequent events and developments may cause these forward-looking statements to change. AgeX specifically disclaims any obligation or intention to update or revise these forward-looking statements as a result of changed events or circumstances that occur after the date of this release, except as required by applicable law.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200228005122/en/

Contacts

Media Contact for AgeX:

Bill Douglass Gotham Communications, LLCbill@gothamcomm.com (646) 504-0890

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AgeX Therapeutics Researchers Publish Paper on the Age Reprogramming of Super-Centenarian Cells - Yahoo Finance

KEY POINTS

Olive oil has been renowned for its umpteen health benefits and for adding to the Mediterranean diets excellence. A new study reported that olive oil could be associated with good health and longer lives.

The researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School studied how olive oil affected human cells in Petri dishes and found that the fats present in the oil activate certain cellular pathways associated with longevity. The study also demonstrated that olive oil reduced the risk of age-related ailments including diabetes and cardiovascular conditions.

The findings of the study suggested that olive oil fats get stored in the body and gets released during exercise. While combining olive oil consumption with fasting or exercising, the effects of the oil will be more pronounced.

We found that the way these fat works is it first has to get stored in microscopic things called lipid droplets, which is how our cells store fat. And then, when the fat is broken down during exercising or fasting, for example, is when the signaling and beneficial effects are realized," Insider quoted the studys lead researcher Dr. Doug Masheks press release.

Clinical trials might be the next steps for their research in order to discover new drugs or to further tailor dietary regimes that aid health benefits.

Mediterranean diet emerged from the countries surrounding the Mediterranean sea, where individuals historically consumed vegetables, healthy fats, nuts, and oily fish. Unlike the fad diets including Atkins or the keto, the Mediterranean diet allows people to eat a wide variety of foods in moderation. It is one of the safest diets for most people, including older adults and children.

Mediterranean diet staples including fresh fruits, whole-grain bread, salads, nuts, olive oil, beans, and salmon promote a wide range of health benefits, Insider mentioned.

This is not the first study to demonstrate the benefits of olive oil. Previous researches have reported that the oil could reduce frailty in older individuals, reduce inflammation in older people, prevents stroke risk, protect against heart diseases, prevent breast cancer risk and also prevent cognitive diseases including Alzheimers and Parkinsons as well.

olive oil for heart attack Photo: congerdesign - Pixabay

Original post:
Consuming Olive Oil After Exercising Can Aid Good Health And Longevity - International Business Times