StemCell Therapy

There ismounting evidencethat a healthy soil microbiome protects plants from pests and diseases.One of the greatest natural assets that humankind has is soil. But when you drench it with proprietary synthetic chemicals or continuously monocrop as part of a corporate-controlled industrial farming system, you can kill essential microbes, upset soil balance and end up feeding soil a limiteddoughnut dietof unhealthy inputs.

Armed with their synthetic biocides, this is what the transnational agritech conglommerates do. These companies attempt to get various regulatory and policy-making bodies to bow before the altar of corporate science. But, in reality, they have limited insight into the long-term impacts their actions have on soil and itscomplex networksof microbes and microbiological processes. Soil microbiologists are themselves still trying to comprehend it all.

That much is clearwhen Linda Kinkelof the University of Minnesotas Department of Plant Pathology said back in 2014: We understand only a fraction of what microbes do to aid in plant growth.

And its the same where human soil is concerned.

People have a deep microbiological connection to soils and traditional processing and fermentation processes, which all affect the gut microbiome the up to six pounds of bacteria, viruses and microbes akin to human soil. And as with actual soil, the microbiome can become degraded according to what we ingest (or fail to ingest). Many nerve endings from major organs are located in the gut and the microbiome effectively nourishes them. There is ongoing research taking place into how the microbiome is disrupted by the modern globalised food production/processing system and the chemical bombardment it is subjected to.

The human microbiome is of vital importance to human health yet it is under chemical attack from agri-food giants and theiragrochemicals and food additives. As soon as we stopped eating locally-grown, traditionally-processed food, cultivated in healthy soils and began eating food subjected to chemical-laden cultivation and processing activities, we began to change ourselves. Along with cultural traditions surrounding food production and the seasons, we also lost our deep-rooted microbiological connection with our localities. It was traded in for corporate chemicals and seeds and global food chains dominated by the likes of Monsanto (now Bayer), Nestle and Cargill.

Environmentalist Dr Rosemary Mason says that glyphosate disrupts the shikimate pathway within these gut bacteria and is a strong chelator of essential minerals, such as cobalt, zinc, manganese, calcium, molybdenum and sulphate. In addition, it kills off beneficial gut bacteria and allows toxic bacteria to flourish. She adds that we are therefore facing a global metabolic health crisis linked to glyphosate.

Many key neurotransmitters are located in the gut. Aside from affecting the functioning of major organs, these transmitters affect our moods and thinking. There is strong evidence that gut bacteria can have a direct physical impact on the brain. Alterations in the composition of the gut microbiome have been implicated in a wide range of neurological and psychiatric conditions, including autism, chronic pain, depression and Parkinsons Disease.

Recently published research indicates that glyphosate and Roundup are proven to disrupt gut microbiome by inhibiting the shikimate pathway.Dr Michael Antoniou of Kings College Londonhas found thatRoundup herbicide and its active ingredient glyphosate cause a dramatic increase in the levels of two substances, shikimic acid and 3-dehydroshikimic acid, in the gut, which are a direct indication that the EPSPS enzyme of the shikimic acid pathway has been severely inhibited. The researchers found that Roundup and glyphosate affected the microbiome at all dose levels tested, causing shifts in bacterial populations.

This confirms what Mason has been highlighting for some time. However, she has also been pointing out the environmental degradation resulting from the spiralling use of glyphosate-based herbicides and has just written an open letter tothe Principal Fisheries Officer of Natural Resources Wales (NRW), Peter Gough (NRW is the environment agency for Wales).

The letter runs to 20 pages and focuses on glyphosate and neonicotinoid insecticides. She asks who would re-authorise a pesticide that istoxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects and is causing serious eye damage along with various forms of cancers and a wide range of other health conditions?

She answers her question by saying the European Glyphosate Task Force and Jean-Claude Juncker President of the EC along with various regulators in Europe who have basically capitulated to an industry agenda. Mason argues that the European Glyphosate Task Force (who actually did the re-assessment of glyphosate) omitted all the studies from South America where they had been growing GM Roundup Ready crops since 1996. She discusses the suppression of key research which indicated the harmful effects of glyphosate.

The Principal Fisheries Scientist Wales sent Mason two NRW Reports two years ago. In it, Mason discovered that giant hogweed on the River Usk bank had been treated with a glyphosate-based herbicide. NRW had also admitted to not studying the effects of neonicotinoids, which had been introduced in 1994. Mason pointed out to NRW that run-off from farms of clothianidin in seeds would be enough to kill off aquatic invertebrates.

In early January, NRW attempted to explain the absence of salmon and trout in the River Usk on climate change (warming of the river), rather than poisoning of the river, which is what Mason had warned the agency about two years ago.

In Britain, information on emerging water contaminants has been suppressed, according to Mason, and there is no monitoring of either neonics or glyphosate in surface or ground water. In the US, though, measurements of these chemicals have been carried out on farmland and their correlation with massive declines in invertebrates byseparate agenciesand universities in the US and Canada.

Mason notes there has been 70 years of poisoning the land with pesticides. Although the National Farmers Union and the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs in the UK say fewer pesticides are now being applied, the Soil Association indicates massive increases of increasing numbers of pesticides at decreasing intervals (official statistics obtained via a Freedom of Information request).

Readers should consult the full text of Masons open letter on theacamedia.edusite to gain wider insight into the issues outlined above and many more, such as government collusion with major agrochemical corporations, the shaping of official narratives on illness and disease to obscure the role of pesticides and Monsantos poisoning of Wales.

What Mason outlines is not specific to Wales or the UK; the increasing use of damaging agrochemicals and government collusion with the industry transcends national borders. Nation states are becoming increasingly obsolete and powerless in the face of globalised capitalist interests that seek to capture and exploit markets, especially in the Global South.

What follows is the e-mail that Mason sent to Peter Gough by way of introducing her letter to him.

Dear Peter,

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) classified glyphosate as a substance that is toxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects

Your colleague Dave Charlesworth declared on BBC 1 Breakfast last week that the declines in salmon and trout were due to climate change and warming of the rivers. I told you just over 2 years ago that it was due to pesticides and showed you the proof from assorted NRW documents you sent me.

Why are NRW, the government, top UK doctors, farmers, the corporations, the media and global pesticides regulators protecting the agrochemical industry? All of you could suffer from the effects of pesticides in food, in water, in the air and in rain. Why dont you inform the people?

Monsanto claims that Roundup doesnt affect humans, but their sealed secret studies that scientist Anthony Samsel obtained from the US EPA, shows evidence of cancers and that bioaccumulation of14C labelled glyphosate occurred in every organ of the body (page 9).

The NFU and Defra deny they are responsible for 70 years of poisoning the land and the subsequent insect apocalypse; they should read their own document Healthy Harvest.The National Farmers Union (NFU), the Crop Protection Association (CPA) and the Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC) combined to lobby the EU not to restrict the 320+ pesticides available to them. The publication is called:HEALTHY HARVEST.[1](Pages 6-9)

The Department of Health and the Chief Medical Officer for England claim that parents are responsible for obesity in primary school children. However, Pesticides Action Network (PAN) analysed the Department of Healths Schools Fruit and Vegetable Scheme and found that there were residues of 123 pesticides in it,some of which are linked to serious health problems such as cancer and disruption of the hormone system.

When PAN informed them, they said that pesticides were not the concern of the DOH. (Page 14, 13-16).

Dr Don Huber, Emeritus Professor of Plant Pathology, Purdue University, US, speaking about GMO crops and glyphosate, said: Future historians may well look back upon our time and write, not about how many pounds of pesticide we did or didnt apply, but by how willing we are to sacrifice our children and future generations for this massive genetic engineering experiment that is based on flawed science and failed promises just to benefit the bottom line of a commercial enterprise. (Page 18)

Kind regards,

Rosemary

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Gone Fishing? No Fish but Plenty of Pesticides and a Public Health Crisis - CounterPunch

Jan 16th 2020

SINCE THE ancient Greeks, at least, people have recognised that civilisational progress tends to create havoc as well as opportunity. Economists have had little time for such concerns. To them, technological progress is the wellspring of long-run growth, and the only interesting question is how best to coax more innovation out of the system. But in the face of looming social challenges, from climate change to inequality, some are now asking whether, when it comes to innovation, what sort is as relevant as how much.

Early models of growth did not explain technological progress at all, treating it rather like manna from heaven. In the 1980s some economists worked to build endogenous-growth models that said where innovation came from. They explained it as the consequence of investment in research and development, increases in the stock of human capital, or the (temporary) extra profits that can be reaped by firms with new technologies. Other economists have focused more on data than on theory. Who Becomes an Inventor in America? The Importance of Exposure to Innovation, a paper published in 2018 in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, identifies factors that seem to encourage young people to become innovators. Children who grow up where innovation rates are high, for instance, are more likely to become inventors themselves.

Research has also made clear, however, that technological discovery is not linear, but veers about depending on economic conditions. Some economic historians reckon that early industrialisation was motivated by a desire to replace scarce resources, such as skilled labour, with abundant ones, such as unskilled labour and coal. Early inventors were not simply discovering natures truths one by one, in other words, but trying to solve specific problems. Work on such technological bias blossomed in the 1990s as economists sought to explain why the wage premium earned by college graduates kept rising even as the supply of graduates increased. The answer, some reckoned, was that technological change in the 20th century was skill-biased, boosting the productivity of workers with degrees, but not of others.

In a paper published in 2001, Daron Acemoglu of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology collected these strands in a model of directed technical change. Technological progress, he suggested, is influenced by the relative scarcity of factors such as labour and capital; by how easily one factor can be substituted for another; and by the path of past innovation. Research on a particular technology may reduce the cost of developing complementary innovations in future. Directed technical change is fascinating to contemplate because it allows for alternative technological futures: worlds in which firms wring every efficiency from Zeppelins and pneumatic tubes, rather than from internal-combustion engines and Twitter. If the direction of progress is not set in stone, policy choices could lead an economy down one technological path rather than another. That raises an immediate question: if innovation can be steered, should it be, and if so, how?

Since 2000, published work on directed technical change has focused largely on environmental challenges. Path dependence means that research on fossil-fuel technologies can often be more fertile than research on cleaner alternatives. There are more experts in the relevant disciplines, better-funded research labs and an established complementary economic infrastructure. Efficient decarbonisation might thus require subsidies for clean-energy research, as well as a carbon price. Indeed, efforts to slow global warming represent a massive attempt to realise one technological futurea zero-carbon versionrather than another.

Why stop there? Some futurists, and a few economists, worry that rapid progress in artificial intelligence could lead to mass displacement of labour and social crisis. But in a recent paper Anton Korinek of the University of Virginia notes that not all uses of AI are alike. Clever machines could indeed replace human workersor might instead be engineered to assist human labour: to help people navigate complicated processes or take difficult decisions. Private firms, focused on their bottom lines rather than the potential knock-on effects of their investment decisions, might be indifferent between the two approaches in the absence of a government nudge, just as polluting firms tend not to worry about the social costs of environmental harm unless made to do so by governments. In a working paper co-written with Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics, Mr Korinek concludes that directing technical change to favour labour-assisting rather than labour-displacing forms of AI could be a second-best way to manage progress, if governments cannot sufficiently redistribute the gains from automation from winners to losers. This may sound far-fetched, but policy proposals such as Bill Gatess suggestion that robots should be taxed to slow the pace of automation represent steps toward a more micromanaged technological future.

Environmental policies aside, such steps seem premature. A more sophisticated view of technological progress is to be welcomed. But economics lacks the tools, at least for now, to judge which technological path is preferable. The world is too complex to allow economists to compare hypothetical technological futures: to know whether a Zeppelin-based society would operate more efficiently overall than a car-based one. Economists cannot know what surprises lie down one innovation path rather than another.

And questions of technology are not solely, or even mostly, about efficiency. Many are ethical. Innovations with overwhelming productivity advantages could prove devastating to social trust or equity. In the face of radical technological changein AI, robotics and genetic engineeringsocieties will inevitably argue over which technological paths should be explored. Economists views belong in these conversationsprovided they are crafted with humility and care.

This article appeared in the Finance and economics section of the print edition under the headline "Economists explore the consequences of steering technological progress"

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Economists explore the consequences of steering technological progress - The Economist

On Monday, the superintendents of both local school districts asked the Frankfort City Commission for $1.5 million to upgrade the athletic fields at the three area high schools to synthetic turf. While the debate over whether to finance the project played out on the front page, we couldnt help noticing what quietly made headlines on the sports page this week.

On Tuesday, Franklin County High School girls basketball coach Joey Thacker notched his 400th career win. That's quite a feat, but perhaps more noteworthy is his longevity. Thacker, whose Lady Flyers competed in three straight state tournaments from 2015-17 and finished as runners-up in 2016 and 2017, has been pacing the hardwood for more than 20 years.

Frankfort youth are fortunate in that he is not the only local coach with tenure something that is both rare and admirable these days.

FCHS softball coach Tracy Spickard, the schools athletic director and a 2002 inductee in the Kentucky Prep Softball Hall of Fame, will start her 23rd season at the helm this spring with more than 500 wins under her belt. Decidedly absent in the dugout this season will be longtime assistant coach Butch Turner, who recently announced his retirement after more than two dozen years.

To have that longevity with your assistant coaches is almost unheard of today, and I firmly believe it has made an impact with us maintaining the rich tradition of Lady Flyer softball, Spickard told The State Journal.

Across town, Western Hills volleyball coach Kristi Buffenmyer, who was tapped to lead the team straight out of college, concluded a 25-year stint last fall with close to 400 victories, four district championships and seven district runner-up finishes. Her 2001 team advanced to the state tournament as a regional runner-up.

Thank you to these and all local coaches who have dedicated time and energy into what at times can be an underappreciated job. The countless lessons they teach Franklin County youth extend well beyond the playing fields and into life.

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Editorial: Area youth fortunate to have coaches with longevity - State-Journal.com

Mondays Hoquiam City Council meeting saw the approval of a three-year contract for the police department that includes an incentive to stay with the force, a timber sale that could bring more than $100,000 to the city, and acceptance of a grant that will allow for much needed maintenance at the city cemetery.

Police contract

The contract includes a 7% raise to the base salary in the first year starting Jan. 1, 2020, along with a 3% cost of living increase, a total 10% raise. There will be cost of living increases of 3% Jan. 1 2021 and Jan. 1 2022.

The bargaining agreement includes a new provision for longevity/retention pay, which rewards police personnel for staying with the department.

The longevity/retention pay is based on the number of years worked: $75 a month after five full years, $100 a month after 10 years, $150 a month after 15 years, and $200 a month after 20 years, on top of existing salaries. The longevity/retention pay began Jan. 1.

Under the contract, in the first year, a patrol officer with a year or less with the department would make just under $63,800 annually, a sergeant just over $85,600. Officers also qualify for step increases, based on the number of years they have served with the department. In the first year of the new contract, an officer with more than five years on the force would earn just over $81,400 annually, plus whatever longevity pay they qualify for.

Hoquiam was one of the last cities that didnt have longevity pay in its police contract, said city Finance Director Corri Schmid. City Administrator Brian Shay said, In doing comparisons with other union contracts, most cities do offer what is called longevity pay to their employees.

Timber sale

The city saw an opportunity when it was notified the Dorothea Parker Family Trust was going to log timber on its property between Endresen Road and the College Hill water reservoir to log harvestable timber on adjacent city-owned property at the same time.

Current estimates are the city could take in $100,000 to $180,000 in revenue, which would be nice for the general fund, said Shay. There are trails that could come from that, and maybe even a few home sites created. To me that is a really exciting opportunity.

The sale could remove danger trees near the cemetery and protect the water reservoir as well.

Estes Timber LLC was tapped by the Dorothea Parker Family Trust to log its property, and the city Monday approved Estes Timber to prepare its own timber sale with a cost estimate not to exceed $4,000, according to the approved report.

Cemetery

A $40,600 Historic Cemetery Preservation Grant will allow the city to perform repairs to the mausoleum roofs, ADA ramps, restrooms, gate and lighting at Sunset Memorial Park, the city cemetery. These funds dont require a city match and come from the state Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation.

Mayor Ben Winkelman, presiding over his first council meeting, said Community Service Coordinator Tracy Wood was instrumental in securing the grant.

Brian (Shay) said he asked Tracy to get all the information for the grant application and next thing you know this thing is ready to go, signed, sealed and delivered, said Winkelman.

Shay said estimates for the total amount of work to be done at the cemetery came to around $60,000, but the grant will cover most of that, with the potential to use some city money if needed to complete the maintenance.

Ward 1 Councilman Dave Wilson noted how difficult its been to maintain the cemetery with the lack of funds available. This is a significant site, historically obviously, and needs to be taken care of, he said.

DAN HAMMOCK | GRAYS HARBOR NEWS GROUP Ben Winkelman was sworn in as Mayor of Hoquiam prior to the City Council meeting Monday. Finance Director Corri Schmid performed the swearing in.

DAN HAMMOCK | GRAYS HARBOR NEWS GROUP Re-elected and newly-elected Hoquiam City Council members were sworn in prior to Mondays council meeting. From left: Steven Puvogel, Ward 2; new Ward 4 Councilman Al Dick; Dave Hinchen, Ward 6; Shannon Patterson, Ward 3; Brenda Carlstrom, Ward 5; Elizabeth Reid, Ward 6; and Dave Wilson, Ward 1.

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HPD gets 7 percent hike and new longevity incentive - The Daily World

Betty White is celebrating another year of life, but if you ask her about her age, she's quick to remind you of one important fact: It doesn't really matter. The sitcom star turns 98 today, and she's still got an active career.

"You don't fall off the planet once you pass a given age," she said in a 1991 interview, "You don't lose any of your zest for life, or your lust for life, if you will."

Now nearly 30 years later, and in the face of continued sidelining of older women in film and television, White has continued to have a successful careerand it's part of her secret to longevity, even if she says she didn't have one.

"I don't have a secret," she said in a 2018 interview with Parade. In the same breath, however, she said she plans to "never" retire. In another interview with the publication, she said, "I just love to work, so I'll keep working until they stop asking."

While she may believe she has no secrets, we think there are a few things White's done in her life that may be to thank for her longevity:

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It's Betty White's 98th Birthday: Here Are 3 Secrets To Her Longevity - mindbodygreen.com

Yes, indeed, its good to be rich in old age. According to a new study, wealthy men and women dont only live longer, they also get eight to nine more healthy years after 50 than the poorest individuals in the United States and in England.

It was surprising to find that the inequalities are exactly the same, said Paola Zaninotto, a professor of epidemiology and public health at University College London and a lead author of the study.

The findings, published on Wednesday in The Journals of Gerontology: Series A, emerged from two primary questions: What role do socioeconomic factors play in how long people live healthy lives? Do older adults in England stay disability-free longer than those in the United States?

To answer these questions, researchers from University College London, Harvard University and institutions in three other countries turned to two existing data sets containing more than 25,000 people over 50. They then analyzed how well various factors including education, social class and wealth predicted how long a person would live free of conditions that might impair them from activities such as getting out of bed or cooking for themselves the studys definition of disability-free and healthy.

Everything paled in comparison with wealth. In both countries, wealthy women tended to live 33 disability-free years after age 50 eight to nine more than poor women, the study found. Wealthy men tended to live 31 disability-free years after 50 eight to nine more than poor men.

There are many ways to define wealth. In this study, researchers considered physical possessions such as a home, jewels and artworks, as well as other financial assets such as savings and investments that had been accumulated over a persons lifetime, minus debts. For Americans, the average wealth not to be confused with income was $29,000 for the poorest group, $180,000 for the middle group and $980,000 for the richest group, Dr. Zaninotto said.

Though education level and social class had some effect, neither was found to be nearly as significant as wealth. The researchers did not evaluate race as a factor in England, restricting that countrys data set, which was almost entirely white to begin with, to white Britons. When parsing the more racially diverse American data set by race, the conclusions stayed the same, Dr. Zaninotto said.

Additional study is required to understand why wealth in particular is such a strong indicator of how long someone lives unimpaired, she said, but it was most likely a function of having access to funds when you have ill health.

Corinna Loeckenhoff, director of the Healthy Aging Laboratory at Cornell University, complimented the methodology and made a similar observation.

More wealth means its easier to get to your appointments and access additional services that would not be available to people with less, said Dr. Loeckenhoff, who was not involved in the study. Additionally, poverty has been linked to higher stress levels, which has implications for health, she added.

Beyond that, she said she was curious about the potential role of lifestyle and personality traits. People who were more inclined to save money, for example, might also be more likely to also engage in healthy activity, she said.

But what about all of those people on remote, beautiful islands who seem to live forever? The secret to their enviably long, healthy, lives has little to do with riches, no?

Yes, of course, longevity is also affected by other factors, Dr. Loeckenhoff said. The biggest recommendation is to exercise and eat a healthy diet, she added, noting that the ability to do either might also be affected by wealth.

As far as whether older adults in England or the United States stayed disability-free longer, the study ultimately found that peoples ability to get around in their final years was nearly identical in both countries. The researchers were intrigued by the result, Dr. Zaninotto said, as they had previously found that older Americans tended to be less healthy than older Britons, largely because of obesity.

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Rich People Dont Just Live Longer. They Also Get More Healthy Years. - The New York Times

RANDOLPH, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nutrition for Longevity, a farm-to-table meal delivery service company focused on supplying delicious, farm-fresh, and high-quality foods based on The Longevity Diet, has announced the national launch of its vegan and pescatarian meal kits. The kits, available as part of Nutrition for Longevitys meal service, can be ordered from the company via nutritionforlongevity.com and will be shipped directly to homes across the continental United States.

Nutrition for Longevitys healthy and affordable meal delivery service provides three full days of meals per week so the food is always fresh and provides customers freedom through the rest of the week. Both the Vegan and Pescatarian meal plans are specially curated by a team of chefs and registered dieticians and are available in either 1600 or 2000 calorie options.

Were very excited to be able to bring the cleanest, healthiest food possible to peoples plates all over the country, said Jennifer Maynard, Nutrition for Longevitys CEO and Co-Founder. We also own and manage the farm where our produce is grown, so this is truly a labor of love. We focus on quality, nutrient-dense food thats non-GMO, and grown with no synthetic chemicals, using the highest-quality seeds that can be traced all the way back to their source. What we are offering is chef-curated meals, from clean, fresh, and seasonally harvested produce delivered straight to our customers doors.

Inspired by the science and principles behind The Longevity Diet, Nutrition for Longevitys meals draw upon lessons learned from geographical hotspots known for inhabitants that live the longest and healthiest lives on record.

Each meal kit includes a breakfast smoothie and either ancient grain oats or a gluten free vegan muffin to get customers going in the morning, fully-prepared lunch salads and an afternoon snack (like rich dark chocolate) to provide fuel for the midday, and a delicious plant-forward or fish-based dinner that can be easily prepared in 30 minutes or less for a fresh, home-made meal packed with flavor and nutrition.

Nutrition for Longevity was founded on the passionate belief that a long, healthy life begins with whats on your plate. To address the nutritional deficiencies in todays commercially-grown produce, Co-Founder and CEO Jennifer Maynard and her team set out to create a farm-to-table meal delivery service that goes beyond organic, restoring food to its natural state so you can support your health according to principals outlined in The Longevity Diet. Learn more at http://www.nutritionforlongevity.com.

Note to Media: To arrange an interview with Nutrition for Longevity co-founder and CEO Jennifer Maynard, obtain samples or images, or to learn more, contact Paul Williams at paul@medialinecommunications.com or 310/569-0023.

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Nutrition for Longevity Launches Vegan and Pescatarian Farm-to-Table Meal Kits Nationally - Business Wire

There are a great number of reasons for hoarding wealth security, stability, a dragon-like desire to sit on a huge treasure trove but thanks to a new study you can now justifiably say that topping up your bank balance is a health choice.

The study by researchers at UCL found that having a net household worth of 488,000by the age of 50 adds nine years to your life, compared to those with just 28,000 of assets. The study also found that those extra nine years will be lived in good health because more affluent people are more likely to remain fit, active, and independent in their later years

There's clearlogic behind theidea that being wealthy makes you healthier. With more money comes more stability, access to better healthcare, and improved lifestyle options (a homecooked meal of vegetables is more expensive than a supermarket pizza; and gym memberships can easily set you back 100 a month). According to ONS reports the healthy life expectancy gap between the richest and most deprived parts of the UK is 19 years.

And make no mistake, having a net worth of 488k makes you wealthy. According to a report from the BBC in 2019 based on figures from the Resolution Foundation, the average 51-60 year-old has a total net worth of around 275,000, far short of that nine year life bonus.

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What your finances say about your health and longevity - Telegraph.co.uk

The type of coaching carnage that has gone on in the NHL the past few years is borderline historic.

There have been 27 coaching changes since the 2018 offseason, with 20 of the 31 teams making at least one move. Two teams have fired two coaches (Kings and Flames). Future Hall of Famers such as Joel Quenneville, with three Cups to his name, have been kicked to the curb, as has Cup-winner and gold-medal-winning coach Mike Babcock.

Then you have the Lightnings Jon Cooper and the Jets Paul Maurice, the standard-bearers for the lost art of longevity behind the bench. As the leagues two longest-tenured coaches went head to head Friday in Winnipeg (Cooper two months shy of seven years with Tampa Bay, Maurice just hitting the six-year mark), it begs the question:

How did they do it?

Cooper seems uncomfortable talking about all the coaching changes. These men are his friends, his peers. The old saying youre hired to get...

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Amidst coaching carousel, how have Lightning's Jon Cooper and Jets' Paul Maurice found longevity? - The Athletic

Clients now have access to Massachusetts General Hospital physician network through DoctorsForMe to help treat disease and support long-term health

Human Longevity, Inc., an innovator in providing data-driven health intelligence and precision health to physicians and patients, announced today the acquisition of DoctorsForMe, Inc. The acquisition now allows clients of Human Longevity to access world-class physicians and services of Mass General, well trusted by patients worldwide as one of the best hospitals in the world.

David Karow, MD, PhD, President and Chief Innovation Officer of Human Longevity, commented, "DoctorsForMe uses Big Data and AI technologies to match a patient with a doctor that perfectly matches the patients specific need. The acquisition enables Human Longevity to provide a complete health intelligence solution for our clients from early disease detection to personalized treatment, all with the goal of living a longer, healthier life."

ABOUT HUMAN LONGEVITY

Human Longevity provides unparalleled, precision health analytics to individuals through the Health Nucleus in La Jolla, CA. The Health Nucleus provides an assessment of current and future risk for cardiac, oncologic, metabolic and cognitive diseases and conditions. This is provided via a multi-modal approach, integrating data from an individuals whole genome, brain and body imaging via MRI, cardiac CT calcium scan, metabolic tests and more, using machine learning and artificial intelligence.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200115005207/en/

Contacts

Debbie Feinberg, VP of MarketingHuman Longevity, Inc.858-864-1058dfeinberg@humanlongevity.com

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Human Longevity Announces the Acquisition of DoctorsForMe - Yahoo Finance

Nantong, January 13

A towering bronze sculpture of the God of Longevity watches over the city of Rugao in east Chinas Nantong, which is home to an astounding over 1,200 centenarians.

The imposing statue which stands in the garden of longevity is said to artistically depict Chinese deity Shouxing, a bearded old man with a high brow, carrying a crooked staff in one hand, and holding the peach of immortality in his other hand.

The local government prides itself on the large count of people, aged over 100 years, living in Nantong - a port city, attributing it also to healthy habits, fresh air and beauty of nature, blessed by the Yangtze, the mother river of China.

According to senior officials in the Nantong administration, the prefecture-level city, located about 120-kilometer from Shanghai, had 1,205 centenarians till November last year.

Perhaps, the most famous region in east China for being the abode of centenarians is Rugao, a county-level city in Nantong in Jiangsu province.

The number of centenarians in Rugao had reached 524 by January 1, an increase of 84 over the previous year, according to a recent report by the state-run China Daily, quoting the local civil affairs bureau.

The report published on Nantong administrations website also said that there were 16 centenarians aged 105 or above.

Rugao currently has a permanent population of 1.42 million, with 3,91,700 aged 60 and above, 65,200 aged 80 and above, and 9,200 aged 90 and above.

These numbers are much higher than the provincial and national averages, it said.

Yang Deying, 110, is the oldest centenarian in Rugao.

She enjoys her life now with his family and spends time with her great-grand son too. The whole family is having a very wonder life, according to an official at the China Daily.

Yang can still hear, see things, this is an ideal life of someone whose age is more than 100 years. One of her sons, and a daughter-in-law take care of her every day. She has other children too, the official said.

The state-run English daily in partnership with the Jiangsu local government, recently organised a visit to the province for 15 journalists from several countries, who had also visited elderly care centres in Nantong and two other cities.

In a community park in the heart of Nantong in Hongqiao subdistrict, old men can be seen practising Tai Chi (shadow boxing) or reading newspapers, while old women in group perform dance routines inside the elderly-care service centre, neighbouring it.

The subdistrict in Chongchuan district has 35,000 families living with a population of around 100,000, according to officials.

Nearly 18,000 old people live in this area. Through our elderly-care centre, we provide food and other needed services to a section of those people. Medical services are also available at the centre, besides recreational facilities to make them feel engaged. Many volunteers also visit disabled elderly at home to take care of them, a senior official said.

Many of their children are working, so these old people come here and interact with each other, eat food and play games to keep themselves fit and occupied, he said.

Healthy diet and sleeping habits, as well as a convivial environment, are believed to have contributed to longevity in Rugao, earning it the moniker of city of longevity.

We want our Nantong to be a world-class city. Work going on expanding the urban infrastructure and a new bridge being built to connect faster to Shanghai. But, Nantong is also a city having fresh air and the blessing of mother river Yangtze, so many people live for over 100 years, a senior official of Nantong administration said.

The historic city of Nantong is home to several old Chinese gardens, Langshan Mountain National Forest Park, and various architectural heritage.

Located on the confluence of Yangtze River, Yellow Sea and East China Sea, the convergence lends Nantong the sobriquet of Great Pearl from Yangtze River and Sea.

In this salubrious environment, it is not uncommon in Rugao to see several centenarian couples celebrating golden jubilee of their wedding anniversaries, grandparents celebrating birthdays after crossing 100-year mark.

China has witnessed a rise in peoples average life expectancy over the years, from 74.83 years in 2010 to 76.7 years in 2017, according to the National Health Commission.

The average life expectancy for Chinese will go up to 77 years by 2020, one year more than the figure in 2015, the health authorities in Beijing had earlier said.

Chinese view long life as a special blessing and on birthdays and other special occasions for elders, visitors bow before the statue of the God of Longevity, to seek blessings, locals said.

Nantong was named the first longevity capital of the world by the International Society of Natural Medicine and the World Longlife Township Accreditation Committee, according to a 2019 Chinese government publication on the city. PTI

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Learn the longevity secrets of this Chinese city which houses over 1,200 centenarians - The Tribune

KEY POINTS

A study conducted by Harvard School of Public Health researchers indicates that eating spicy foods could help improve longevity. Their findings, which were published in the British Medical Journal in 2005, state that people who consume spicy foods daily have a 14% lower risk of death. This is in comparison to people who consumed spicy foods only once a week.

China Population

The researchers analyzed the diet and health information of nearly 500,000 people living in China from 2004 to 2008, then followed them up a couple of years later. Since the study was observational in nature, it did not show if spicy foods help people live longer. It revealed, however, that people who consumed spicy food regularly were less likely to have died within the study period compared to those who consumed less spicy food.

Dr. Lu Qi, the author of the study, stated that evidence from many other studies indicate the bioactive ingredients found in spicy foods like capsaicin reduces bad cholesterol. It also minimizes triglycerides and helps in improving inflammation.

Foods that contain dried and fresh chili peppers have shown the most potential.A study that was published in PLoS ONE, a medical journal, also linked the spice with a 13% lower risk of death. spicy food and longevity Photo: englishlikeanative - Pixabay

The Study

Using information made available by the National Health and Examination Survey, the University of Vermont scientists analyzed the diet patterns of more than 16,000 American adults. The scientists asked the question of how often did these adults eat or consume red hot chili peppers. They noted that those who reported eating any hot peppers during the previous months had lower mortality rates, after making adjustments for other factors, for 18 years.

Among the benefits of capsaicin is weight loss. There is evidence that indicates it promotes weight loss by moderating appetite and increasing the bodys ability to burn fat. Studies also reveal ten grams of red chili pepper can considerably boost fat burning in both males and females.

Researchers also found that capsaicin can minimize your calorie intake. The study, which involved 24 participants, showed that those who regularly consume chili found they were able to reduce their calorie intake.

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New Study Reveals Foods Linked To Longer Life Expectancy - International Business Times

As a business owner, Ive frequently struggled with hiring good people and ensuring they last. Im sure a lot of other people also struggle with it. Thats why I wanted to write this article.

It doesnt help that we can sometimes give up early in the hiring process either since we get so frustrated. I did that when I first started out and was ready to tear my hair out when I would see more money going out the door on training new hires that didnt work out. Often, when that happens, you spend even less time on reworking the hiring system. I get it. You might feel like: whats the point? Im doomed to sort through crappy people forever.

In my case, I came from the field and believed that as long as I could work hard as a tech, I could scale and last in the marketplace. Maybe you can relate? Maybe you apply this same logic to hiring? Heres the catch: using what worked when you were a startup is exactly why you cant hold onto your peoplewhy you threaten your potential to grow.

If you have aspirations for a business that is more than just you, then youre going to need to leverage other peoples time and energy. Youre going to have to train individuals in the methodologies, systems, and processes you use that make you great.

But dont worry, because I can tell you what you need to knowand what you already knowif you read my last article on defining your core values. Thats the secret. To make your people stick, You need to be clear on your core values. This piece of the foundation is paramount if you want to be successful in the long-term.

If your core values arent clear, you have the possibility or potential to allow infectious people into your organization. And when I say infectious, I mean people who dont align with you or your purpose. But you wont know this from the jump. They might be a skilled person and from the outside seem like a logical fit. But then youll find out theyll always show up late or dont speak nicely to customers.

Id rather have a guy with a lower skill set who is coachable and can be trained and molded into the correct technician that we want. As long as the core values are in alignment and are the underlying foundation within that persons life, theyre going to align with Top Class.

Even though this is a little bit of a different approach when it comes to onboarding and training people, its definitely made a significant difference in our business.

A couple of years ago, we had three really shitty hires back to back to back in a short period. We thought the timing was perfect because we had a big project coming up, and that allowed a couple of weeks leeway to get these guys up to speed. They would know what they were doing and be trustworthy. We felt good about hiring them initially. But in less than 90 days, all three people had been fired, or theyd quit.

What I learned is that if you want to prevent what we went through with these hires, then you need to identify your core values and leverage them properly.

If youre still not convinced, Google employee cost calculators; youll see the numbers are absolutely disgusting. Check out what it costs in advertising to get a person on your team, what it costs to train the person, and how long you need to train them. Youll learn what you are spending when your employees are not producing at the expected levelbecause they werent trained fully. Youll read about IT costs like setting up email addresses and getting them on your software. And after you look up all the costs you can track, think about what you cant track. How much time and money did you spend getting them shirts and swag?

After we lost the three guys in such quick succession, I added up the expenses and was blown away by what it cost to hire themcash right out the window.

Unsure what to do, I talked to my coach, and he gave me the kick in the ass I needed to work on the businesss core values. My partner Jimmy and I had some intense conversations to drill down into what we wanted our core values to be. Jimmy believes in a lot of things I dont and vice versa, but that didnt matter. We needed to work through these differences to agree on our core values.

Once we did that, our company strengthened. It didnt happen overnight, but it did happen. Get clear on your core values, and you will be amazed at what you are actually attracting to your business. It changes every aspect of your business, even the bottom line!

You never know when the perfect person for your organization is going to come along. So always be open to hiring people. With your core values in place, your process to bring them on-board will be that much easier and more economical. You will always be in the best position to grow your company and optimize every hiring opportunity.

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All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS.

Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.

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Original article appeared at Tomas Keenan. Reprinted with permission.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

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Breaking the Small Business Owners Curse: Hiring for Longevity - The Good Men Project

Leading a long and fulfilling life largely hinges on your ability to avoid chronic complications that shorten your lifespan.

One of the most important proactive measures you can take is to maintain a healthy weight because obesity can lead to life-threatening conditions such as coronary heart disease.

In fact, coronary heart disease is one of the biggest killers in the UK and worldwide so it is important to maintain a healthy weight to ward off the threat of developing this deadly disease.

Intermittent fasting, an eating pattern that involves cycling between periods of eating and fasting, has been shown to attack this harmful belly fat, however.

A large review of studies found that following an intermittent fasting style of eating helped reduce visceral fat by four to seven percent over a period of six to 24 weeks.

Intermittent fasting has also been shown to provide benefits to heart health.

The dietary approach has been shown to offer protection against mechanisms that lead to heart disease.

Studies have found that intermittent fasting can improve blood pressure, total and LDL cholesterol, blood triglycerides, inflammatory markers and blood sugar levels - risk factors associated with the deadly condition.

In addition to a healthy dietary approach, numerous studies show that regular exercise can extend your lifespan.

In fact, a recent study presented at the American College of Cardiology's 68th Annual Scientific Session, reveals the health benefits of exercising over the age of 70.

The study found that being physically fit provides a more complete picture of an older persons health than the typical cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and smoking.

Seamus P. Whelton, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the study's lead author, said: "We found fitness is an extremely strong risk predictor of survival in the older age group - that is, regardless of whether you are otherwise healthy or have cardiovascular risk factors, being more fit means you're more likely to live longer than someone who is less fit.

The findings, based on an analysis of more than 6,500 people medical records, found that higher fitness was associated with significantly increased rates of survival.

The most fit individuals were more than twice as likely to be alive 10 years later compared with the least fit individuals.

In light of the findings, Whelton called on doctors to incorporate it into their health assessments of older age patients: Assessing fitness is a low-cost, low-risk and low-technology tool that is underutilised in clinical practice for risk stratification.

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How to live longer: Avoid this eating habit to increase life expectancy - Express

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 13: Taylor Swift performs during the 2019 Z100 Jingle Ball at Madison ... [+] Square Garden on December 13, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)

Taylor Swifts Lover just reached its 20th week on the Billboard 200, and with it, a not-so-rosy milestone: Its tied for its lowest chart position to date, landing at No. 13 just as it did in its 16th week. Jokes aside, thats another stellar hold in a history of stellar holds for Lover, which thus far has spent all of its 20 weeks inside the Top 15 and 17 weeks inside the Top 10. Swifts latest album has already occupied the Top 10 for five more weeks than Reputation did throughout its entire run, supporting my previous prediction that, despite a smaller debut, Lover will have a longer shelf life than Reputation.

There are a few explanations for Lovers greater chart longevity, both qualitative and quantitative. But first, lets look at the circumstances of Reputations massive debut of 1.238 million album-equivalent units, of which 1.216 million were pure sales. Reputation was preceded by the explosive lead single Look What You Made Me Do, a chilly, opulent revenge fantasy put to music that inadvertently addressed her long-standing feud with Kanye and Kim Kardashian West. Following a full-scale social media blackout, Look What You Made Me Do shot to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and broke first-day streaming records, generating loads of hype for Reputation. Swift withheld the album from streaming services upon release in November 2017, forcing fans to buy a physical copy or download it on iTunes if they wanted to hear the feature-length version of her airing grievances and torching her professional nemeses. This excitement and scarcity allowed Reputation to perform like a blockbuster superhero movie sequel, topping the Billboard 200 in its first three weeks, during which it also enjoyed a boost from holiday shoppers.

Reputation posted excellent holds throughout its first 11 weeks, lingering in the Top 10 and returning to No. 1 in its fifth and seventh weeks. But once it fell out of the Top 10 in its 12th week (No. 13), it wilted quickly, tumbling to No. 23 in its 15th week and bouncing between the high teens and low 20s on the Billboard 200 over the next several frames. Despite its early meteoric success, Reputation polarized some listeners with its chilly electro-pop sound and bad girl persona. Reputation spawned one more Top 10 single in ... Ready for It? (No. 4) and was certified 3x platinum by the RIAA, but it ultimately proved a relative underperformer compared to the 9x platinum 1989 and 7x platinum Red. Swifts venomous new attitude and fixation on celebrity feuds were intriguing and salacious, but they were also exhausting. And while the actual songs on Reputation have aged much better than I would have initially predicted, its accompanying narrative and heavy media exposure burned out some listeners, making it her most commercially front-loaded album to date.

The circumstances of Lovers release were almost entirely different. It was the first Swift album to be made available physically and on streaming services simultaneously, and it was her first album since 2010s Speak Now to not spawn a No. 1 lead single. (And it has yet to do so: ME! and You Need to Calm Down both debuted and peaked at No. 2 behind Lil Nas Xs Old Town Road.) By releasing Lover concurrently on streaming services and physically, Swift gave listeners the chance to tune out of the album after a few songs or cherry-pick their favorites for future listening, rather than buying the full album once and then determining which songs they liked most. Since Swift historically does not perform as well as some of her pop star peers (Drake, Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish) on streaming services, this release strategy likely resulted in fewer album-equivalent units than if she had only released Lover physically. As a result, Lover ended Swifts four-album streak of million-plus debuts, bowing with 867,000 units, of which 679,000 were pure salesa mammoth total for any pop star, but still a notable decline for Swift.

Yet what Lover sacrificed in first-week sales, it has recouped through repeat streams over the past several months. The album held strong in the Top 10 for its first 15 weeks, only dipping in week 16 thanks to an onslaught of Christmas albums flooding the Billboard 200. It has been jostled around over the past few weeks but never dipped below No. 13. So far, Lover has accumulated approximately 1.705 billion Spotify streams, versus Reputations 2.267 billion, despite coming out nearly two years earlier. And while Lovers lead single missed the top spot on the Hot 100, its second and third singles performed comparatively better than those on Reputation: You Need to Calm Down and Lover peaked at Nos. 2 and 10, respectively, while ... Ready for It? and End Game reached Nos. 4 and 18.

At a certain point, these granular statistics stop being useful for painting a portrait of an albums success. Still, I expect Lover to continue performing well on streaming services and eventually close the gap between it and Reputation. It helps that Lover has three more songs than Reputation to rack up more streaming-equivalent albums. More importantly, it helps that Lover contains more genuinely catchy pop songs that display greater emotional range for Swift. While Lover has not yielded another breakout or viral hit recently, songs like Cruel Summer, The Man and Cornelia Street have great commercial potential if Swift does choose to release one as a single. After her new documentary, Miss Americana, hits Netflix on Jan. 31, the album will likely see an uptick in sales and streams, particularly the films namesake track, Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince.

Simply put,Loveris more musically and narratively diverse thanReputation, which endears it to repeated listens over a longer period of time. According to the RIAA, Lover still has a long way to go to match the sales of Reputation, as it has thus far only been certified platinum. (Notably, it was the only album of 2019 to sell 1 million pure copies.) But theres plenty of time for that to change, and we shouldnt expect Lover to depart the Top 20 anytime soon.

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Why Taylor Swifts Lover Has Greater Chart Longevity Than Reputation - Forbes

GenScript Biotech Global Forum Highlights Advances in Cell and Gene Therapy and Opportunities in China

GenScript Biotech Corp., a leading global biotechnology group and a pioneer in the field of gene synthesis, held its inaugural "Global Forum on Cell & Gene Therapy and the Booming China Market," during the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference week, attracting hundreds of industry leaders, investors and others to address the challenges and opportunities in this innovative field.

"As an industry, we are on the brink of achieving some extraordinary breakthroughs in cell and gene therapy for cancer and other diseases," said GenScript Biotech CEOFrank Zhang, PhD. "Four gene and cell therapies have recently been approved by the FDA, bringing new hope to patients, and this is only the beginning. Our vision is to make cancer a chronic or curable disease rather than a deadly one, and to transform the treatment of cancer, autoimmune and other diseases by leveraging the advantages of cell and gene therapy."

While significant advances are being made, the Forum also tackled some of the more pressing challenges, such as mitigating treatment side effects, improving treatment efficacy in solid tumors and scaling up manufacturing. Panelists from Kite Pharma, GE Healthcare Life Sciences, Ziopharm Oncology, Oxford Biomedica, Genethon, CARsgen Therapeutics, J&J Innovation Asia Pacific, the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy, Loncar Investment, Lilly Asia Ventures, and many others participated in the event.

In the U.S. alone, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve 40-60 cell and gene therapies by 2030. During a panel discussion focused on regulatory issues, experts considered what regulators will need to do to keep up with the rapid pace of innovation, the new hospital-based regulatory pathway inChina, how to ensure quality through the manufacturing process, and the challenges and opportunities that come with regulatory harmonization among different countries.

Chinacontinues to attract significant attention from industry and investors and is poised to grow even more. During his welcoming remarks, Zhang notedChina'semergence as a global economic leader, with a projected$1.1 trillionspend on healthcare this year, as well as the growing disease burden inChina. By 2030, an estimated 4.3 million Chinese will be diagnosed with one of the 14 major cancers, according to research from IMS Health. Panelists addressed issues such as the amount of capital required to achieve scale inChina, and advantages of the market inChina.

"The drug development business is changing rapidly andChinais at the fore in a number of ways," Zhang said. "Biotech and pharma companies do not need or desire to have the infrastructure to scale their drugs through commercialization. With lower costs,Chinais a natural place for companies to contract out costly development and manufacturing to organizations that have the expertise and experience to collaborate with them through the entire discovery to development lifecycle."

For its part, GenScript has put significant resources into its Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) business to meet the increasing demand. In 2018, the company officially launched its biologics CDMO segment, and last year opened a new GMP compliant biologics research center. GenScript is also leading the way in cell therapy through its antibody discovery service and plasmid and virus production capabilities.

Read more:
Advances in Cell and Gene Therapy and Opportunities in China - BSA bureau

The UK accounts for over 12% of global cell and gene therapy clinical trials, according to new data published by a government-backed agency.

The Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult (CGT Catapult) today released its 2019 UK Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs) clinical trials database showing that the 127 ongoing trials represent a 45% increase compared with 2018.

According to the CGT Catapult this means the NHS and UK life sciences R&D centres are working well to allow innovative therapies to progress through to the clinic.

Publication of the figures comes the day after the government announced a deal with Novartis to bring cholesterol drug inclisiran to patients in England, and the announcement of an updated life sciences industrial strategy aimed at stimulating private investment in the sector.

Cell and gene therapies require specialist systems and infrastructure and according to the CGT Catapult the UK is being recognised internationally with the majority of commercially sponsored trials being backed by international organisations.

The database shows that 77% of UK cell and gene therapy trials are now sponsored by commercial organisations compared to only 25% in 2013.

The main therapy area for cell and gene therapies clinical trials remains oncology (39%) followed by ophthalmology (13%) and haematology (12%).

While the majority of trials are in the recruitment phase, the number of trials recruiting is considerably larger than previous years.

In 2019, there were 90 cell therapy trials recruiting patients, compared with around 55 in 2018, and the data suggest that these trials are quickly moving through planning and regulatory approvals to recruitment stage.

Around 65% of trials involve autologous cells, sourced from individual patients, with the remainder being off the shelf allogeneic products.

Established as an independent centre of excellence the CGT Catapult is funded by the government through Innovate UK.

It aims to encourage inward investment from big pharma and other international companies by bridging the gap between scientific research and full-scale marketing.

Keith Thompson, CEO of the Cell and CGT said: The total number of cell and gene therapy clinical trials in the UK has been increasing consistently by an average of 25% year on year since 2013. This has been enabled by the development of the UKs fantastic ecosystem to support the development and clinical adoption of cell and gene therapies.

The full report is available here.

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UK accounts for 12% of cell and gene therapy trials - report - - pharmaphorum

Gene therapies are in the in-demand medicine, due to their potential to treat life-threatening diseases, including illnesses classified as rare genetic diseases. Examples include treating sickle cell anemia and anti-tumor immunotherapy. As well as being demand, the market is also lucrative, expected to grow to $11.96 billion by 2025. The growth with gene therapies is represented by the range of gene therapy products in the clinical pipeline, where Frost and Sullivan estimate some 400 cell and gene therapy products in development. The last year alone has seen a 27 percent increase in the number of clinical trials involving gene therapy products. This is also reflected with the number of emergent start-up companies entering the gene therapy space. Most start-up companies elect to outsource the downstream manufacturing stages, due to the relatively low costs involved, as off-set against the costs involved with constructing specialist facilities. Big Pharma is also investing in the field. For example, Pfizer has injected $500 million into one of its plants in North Carolina and Fujifilm Diosynth has made a similarly large investment to boost production capability. READ MORE: Revolutionizing the CRISPR methodThe growth has been fuelled by support from governments and regulatory agency. Here the U.S. 21st Century Cures Act as been a key driver, supported by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). There are, however, some limitations to be overcome. One limitation with progressing gene therapy products is with costs and pricing structures, which is resulting in many therapies being unstainable. This is also limiting the transition to scale, given the complexities tied to growing, sourcing and transporting cells. Costs are high partly as a result of the development and partly because many gene therapies offer curative solutions, making them an in-demand and expensive medicine. A solution to the costs factors is, according to Vered Caplan (Orgensis Inc) the development of point-of-care automation, including the application of closed systems for processing cell therapies. These systems require the use of fewer personnel and permit real-time quality control testing to take place. A second limitation is with the availability of rare materials of sufficient quality, such as plasmid DNA and tranfection agents), which need to be manufactured under the same standards applied to mainstream pharmaceuticals (that is, Good Manufacturing Practices. With new technology emerging to improve product yield and to drive down costs, coupled with increased investments, the expansion of gene therapy products looks set to be one of the big drivers within healthcare over the next five years.

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Why gene therapy is set to transform medicine - Digital Journal

Precision BioSciences, a Durham-based genome editing company, has reached two regulatory milestones for its potential therapy against multiple myeloma, a chronic cancer of white blood cells.

The U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted the companys Investigational New Drug (IND) application and also granted the therapy Orphan Drug Designation, a status that gives companies tax reductions and other incentives to develop treatments for rare diseases.

The therapy, designated as PBCAR269A, is Precisions third allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy candidate.

FDA acceptance of the IND for PBCAR269A further underscores the ongoing progress in our allogeneic CAR T pipeline, said Matt Kane, co-founder and chief executive officer of Precision BioSciences. We have now moved three CAR T programs from preclinical to clinical stage development since April 2019, and we look forward to continuing to advance our allogeneic CAR T portfolio to bring these novel therapeutic candidates to patients.

Matthew Kane

The company plans to begin a Phase 1 clinical trial of the therapy this spring at multiple sites using material produced at its own manufacturing facility in Durham. About 48 patients are expected to be enrolled.

For more information about the trial, visitwww.clinicaltrials.gov, and enter study identifier number NCT04171843.

In preclinical disease models, PBCAR269A has demonstrated no evidence of graft-versus-host disease at doses that resulted in potent anti-tumor activity, said Chris Heery, M.D., chief medical officer of Precision BioSciences. There remains significant unmet need in the treatment of relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, and we are excited to begin clinical trials with an off-the-shelf CAR T therapy candidate in this setting.

The IND for PBCAR269A builds on the initial clinical data Precision presented in late 2019 for its lead program, a CAR T therapy for treating non Hodgkins lymphoma and B-cellacute lymphoblastic leukemia, and the FDAs acceptance of an IND for another CAR T therapy for treating non-Hodgkins lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and small lymphocytic lymphoma.

Precision BioSciences harnesses T cells, a type of white blood cell that is vital to the adaptive immune systems ability to identify specific antigens and destroy pathogens. Through the companys CAR T technology, the T cells can be directed to kill cancer cells.

Precision produces the CAR T therapies by selecting T cells derived from healthy donors as starting material. Then, using its proprietary ARCUS genome-editing technology, the company modifies the donor T cells.

Scientists insert the CAR gene at the T cell receptor locus, enabling the T cell to target a specific marker on a cancer cell, while knocking out the T cell receptor to prevent the patients immune system from recognizing and attacking the T cells.

The company optimizes its CAR T therapy candidates for immune cell expansion in the body by maintaining a high proportion of certain types of CAR T cells throughout the manufacturing process and in the final product.

The process creates a consistent product that can be reliably and rapidly manufactured and is designed to prevent graft-versus-host disease, normally a major challenge when inserting foreign or altered cells or tissues into the body.

The company has posted a four-minutevideoon its website to explain CAR T therapy, using Samurai warriors as an analogy.

Last July Precision opened its Manufacturing Center for Advanced Therapeutics (MCAT), the first in-house current Good Manufacturing Process (cGMP)-compliant manufacturing facility in the United States dedicated to genome-edited, off-the-shelf chimeric antigen receptor CAR T cell therapy products.

Precision Bio facility

Given the potential output of our platform, weve known from the beginning that it was critical for us to address the need for scalable manufacturing of cell-therapy products in order to be able to effectively deliver them to patients, Kane said when the facility opened. In addition to our clinical work, it also has the potential to be a commercial launch facility with the capacity to generate up to 10,000 doses of CAR T cell therapies and 4,000 doses of gene therapies per year.

The facility can produce three different drug substances: allogeneic CAR T cells, messenger RNA and adeno-associated viral vectors. It was designed to meet regulatory requirements in the United States, Europe and Japan.

In addition to health care, Precisions ARCUS genome-editing platform has applications in food and agriculture.

In 2018 the company created a new name and brand identity, Elo Life Systems, for its food and agriculture business, previously known as Precision PlantSciences, based in Research Triangle Park.

Elo is using the ARCUS platform and other new technologies for applications in crop improvement, animal genetics, industrial biotechnology and sustainable agriculture.

Since it was spun out of Duke University in 2006, Precision raised about $300 million in venture capital, government grants and collaboration agreements. The company went public in March 2019, grossing $145.4 million in an initial public offering of stock.

The companys shares are listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol DTIL, shorthand for the companys marketing tagline, Dedicated to improving life.

(C) N.C. Biotech Center

Original post:
Precision BioSciences hits two key FDA milestones in advancing gene therapy for cancer - WRAL Tech Wire

ASC Therapeutics ("ASC"), a privately-held gene therapy company focused on developing transformative gene-based medicines for serious diseases, announced today that it has entered into a long-term strategic manufacturing partnership with Vigene Biosciences ("Vigene"), a Maryland-based Contract Develop and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO). Vigene will provide ASC with access to GMP manufacturing including viral vectors and plasmid DNA for its hemophilia A gene therapy clinical program, as well as a manufacturing platform for future gene therapy programs.

"The genetic platform technology developed by ASC is going to change the way serious diseases are treated in the future. We have seen remarkable potency data in our Hemophilia A IND-enabling gene therapy studies," said Dr. Ruhong Jiang, ASC Founder & CEO.

Dr. Jiang continued, "We are proud to welcome Vigene, a global leader in gene therapy process development and GMP manufacturing with a proven track record and expertise in the field of viral vector manufacturing, to become an integral part of ASC long-term plan. Our partnership provides ASC access to Vigenes world-class team with expertise for both plasmid DNA and viral vector manufacturing as well as high-caliber QC and QA teams."

"Vigene is excited to become a long-term CMC partner for ASC with multiple newly built, state-of-the-art GMP suites and high-titer virus producer cell lines, we are well positioned to support ASC for both early-stage and commercial virus production. This partnership will ensure that all ASC clinical deliverables are achieved in a timely fashion," said Dr. Zairen Sun, Vigenes President and CEO. "We have a world-class manufacturing team, and this agreement is a testimony for our recognition by top-tier biopharmaceutical companies."

About ASC Therapeutics

ASC Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to advancing an integrated and sustainable pipeline focused on gene therapies that correct the root cause of complex and intractable diseases. We are leveraging our AAV-based gene therapy, CRISPR-Cas9 and proprietary gene editing platforms consolidated over 10 years to develop transformative gene-based medicines. ASC is accelerating through clinical trials several lead gene therapies for inherited blood disorders. Our team of industry veterans in discovery, pre-clinical, clinical and CMC gene therapy development and world-class academic and biopharmaceutical partnerships are potentiating our gene therapy capabilities. To learn more about ASC Therapeutics, please visit http://www.asctherapeutics.com.

About Vigene Biosciences

Vigene Biosciences is an award-winning and private equity backed leader in gene delivery development and manufacturing. Vigene has 16 years of cGMP viral vector production experience. Vigenes mission is to make gene therapy affordable. Vigene offers IND-enabling and IND-supporting materials as well as FDA- and EMA-compliant commercial products for plasmid, AAV, lentivirus, and adenovirus with proven technologies and track records. The GMP facility features 10 GMP suites including 5 brand-new cGMP suites with 200L-500L single-use stir tank bioreactors for suspension cells as well as iCellis 500 for adherent cells. In 2018 and 2019 Vigene was recognized by INC500. In 2018, Vigene was chosen as the ACG Emerging Company of the Year Award. To learn more about Vigene Biosciences, please visit http://www.vigenebio.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200114005788/en/

Contacts

ASC Contact Information: Oscar Segurado, MD, PhDChief Medical OfficerASC TherapeuticsMilpitas, CA650.490.5199oscar.segurado@asctherapeutics.com

Vigene Contact Information: Jeffrey Hung, Ph.D.Chief Commercial OfficerVigene BiosciencesRockville, MD301.251.6638jhung@vigenebio.com

Link:
ASC Therapeutics and Vigene Announce Long-Term Strategic Partnership for Gene Therapy Development and Manufacturing - Yahoo Finance