StemCell Therapy

The problem with any of these approaches is that you would just be training for a particular test, which misses the point. It's not the push-up itself that makes you live longer; it's that you are still strong and nimble enough to execute one.

What these tests have in common is they're good shorthand of things that matter for longevity: overall health, fitness and muscle strength. A fit person walks faster than someone out of shape, and getting up off the floor is tricky for people with weak bones and muscles.

"Frailty is a really bad thing starting in middle age, and even worse as you get older," says Michael Joyner, a physician and human physiology researcher at the Mayo Clinic.

One way to think of longevity is "not as some magic property of a body, but as the lucky state of not having a fatal disease", says Steve Cole, professor of medicine and psychiatry and bio-behaviouralsciences at the UCLA School of Medicine. "By and large, people don't die of being old; they die of disease." Therefore, the study of longevity is a way of looking at disease risk or the rate of disease development, he says.

Over the years, various drugs and nutritional supplements have been studied for their potential to help us live longer, but nothing has been shown to work in humans to the extent that would be required for the Food and Drug Administration's approval, says Gordon Lithgow, chief academic officer at the California-based Buck Institute for Research on Aging.

While researchers continue searching for a pill to extend life, you'll have to try these verified methods.

The most powerful way to promote longevity and improve your long-term health is also simple and, depending on how you do it, free.

"There's no question that exercise is the biggest anti-ageing medicine there's ever going to be - it's really huge," Lithgow says.

"Hands down, nothing compares to exercise," says Laura Carstensen, founding director of the Stanford Center on Longevity. "The great thing is that most people can do it, and you don't need 10,000 steps per day to get the benefits." It takes remarkably little exercise to get longevity benefits.

Even 10 to 15 minutes a day provides measurable rewards, says Michael Joyner, a physician and human physiology researcher at the Mayo Clinic. Going from sedentary to even just a bit of exercise is where you get the biggest payoffs. The health benefits - such as reducing your risk of heart disease and diabetes - increase with greater amounts of exercise, until you get to about an hour of exercise per day. After that, the rewards start to level off.

"Almost anyone doing more than that is doing it for things other than health," Joyner says.

Go ahead and train for that Ironman if that's what you want, but if you're exercising for health and longevity, you don't need to run a marathon. Work by Iowa State University epidemiologist Duck-Chul Lee suggests that even running a little less than 10 minutes a day could decrease your mortality risk by about 30 per cent.

But you don't have to run. Walking or other moderate activities are just as good if you're looking for a longevity boost.

Some of the early evidence for the heart benefits of moderate exercise came from studies in the 1950s by British epidemiologist Jeremy Morris showing that conductors on double-decker buses, who spent their shifts walking up and down, had lower rates of coronary heart disease and thus lived longer than bus drivers who spent their workday sitting. Since then, studies showing the cardiovascular benefits of exercise have been "incredibly consistent", Joyner says.

But there's more. Physical activity also reduces the risk of diabetes, which one study found shaved six years off life expectancy.

And it keeps your brain healthy, too. "Exercise has better effects on cognitive performance than sitting around playing brain games," Carstensen says. A 2006 study in Neuroscience found that exercise spurs the brain to release growth factors that promote new connections between neurons, keeping the brain healthy. There's even research suggesting that strength training can reverse some age-related changes in your muscles.

There seems to be something about keeping an active lifestyle, too.

When you look at centenarians as a group, they might not be Arnold Schwarzeneggers, but they typically maintain a high level of physical function, says author Bill Gifford, who interviewed quite a few of them while writing his book, Spring Chicken: Stay Young Forever (Or Die Trying). "They can go up and down stairs, probably because they never stopped going up and down stairs," Gifford says.

His research for the book spurred him to make sure he was exercising at least a little bit every day.

Extend your life span while you sleep. It sounds like a bad infomercial, but it turns out that sleeping well is a good way to keep your body healthy for the long haul. Sleep is a time when your brain gets caught up on maintenance. In 2013, a team led by Maiken Nedergaard at the University of Rochester Medical Center published a study in Science concluding that sleep helps the brain clear out metabolic waste that accumulated during waking hours, providing a kind of restorative maintenance.

Skimp on sleep, and you hinder this important work.

If you've ever missed a night of slumber, you know that sleep deprivation hampers your mood and makes it hard to think clearly, but it can have severe consequences for your metabolic health, as well. Take someone who needs seven hours of sleep a night and restrict them to only five hours of shut-eye for five nights and they experience metabolic changes that look a lot like diabetes, says Satchidananda Panda, who studies circadian biology at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

Indeed, numerous studies have shown that sleep deprivation can decrease insulin sensitivity - a measure of how well your body regulates blood sugar - and increase your risk of diabetes. A 2015 meta-analysis found that Type 2 diabetes risk was higher in people who sleep less than seven hours or more than nine hours, compared with people who got seven to eight hours a night.

So why is sleeping more than nine hours associated with greater mortality? "People who sleep 14 hours per day are probably not healthy," Carstensen says, but it's hard to say right now whether it's possible to get too much sleep. Most people are on the other end of the spectrum.

Regularly sleeping too long may indicate a health problem

The consensus among sleep researchers is that seven to eight hours of sleep is ideal, but that's just a best guess based on the current data, Carstensen says.

"The biggest problem is that most of the data is self-reported and people are really bad at that," Carstensen says.

The advent of sleep trackers can help with the measurements, but they aren't always accurate, so avoid fixating too much on the exact numbers or you may end up in a cycle of anxiety that prevents you from sleeping. The problem is common enough that researchers have coined a term for it - orthosomnia.

Don't make a habit of skimping on sleep during the week with the idea that you'll catch up on the weekends. It doesn't take many nights of short sleep to reduce insulin sensitivity, and a small study published this year in Current Biology found that recouping on sleep over the weekend didn't entirely make up for the metabolic problems that developed during sleep deprivation. Furthermore, when volunteers in the study were given the opportunity to catch up on sleep over the weekend, they ended up shifting their body clocks so that it became harder to get up on Monday morning.

(Getting enough sleep every night might also improve your work life. In the throes of writing his book, Gifford made a decision to start prioritising sleep over work. His deadline was fast approaching, and he'd been getting up early and staying up late. Allowing his body to sleep as long as it needed to led to a "radical transformation in my ability to write", Gifford says. "I'd been trying to work 14 hours per day, and then suddenly I was getting twice as much done in six or seven hours.")

Forget all those headlines you've seen about "anti-ageing diets" and anti-aging "superfoods".

"These notions are generally not supported by science," Lithgow says. That's not to say diet isn't important, only that "nutrition is just a very difficult science", he says.

Severely restricting calories in lab animals makes them live longer, but "it's not clear that it works in humans", Lithgow says. Although there's plenty of evidence that it's not good to overeat, he says, whether drastically limiting food intake can extend life in people remains an open question. The joke, of course, is that calorie restriction will surely make your life seem longer.

It might be possible to get some of the benefits of calorie restriction without giving up so much food. Intriguing work by Panda suggests that restricting the timing of when you eat, rather than the amount, might provoke some of the healthy metabolic changes that reduce the risk of diabetes. Most of these studies have been done in mice, however, and Panda acknowledges that the human studies are small.

Although Panda is confident enough in the results to have written a book, The Circadian Code, which includes instructions on how to try it, some scepticism is warranted, Joyner says.

"Time-restricted eating has shown some interesting results in small studies," Joyner says, but "will it be sustainable over time in the real world? This is important because most dietary strategies work only if they are adhered to."

He says he wonders whether the metabolic benefits that Panda has found with time-restricted eating is really about the timing or simply related to people eating less when their dining hours are restricted. One thing shown repeatedly in anti-ageing studies is that things that initially look like magic bullets never live up to their initial hype, Joyner says.

What does seem clear, however, is that metabolic health is important for long-term health, because it keeps diabetes in check and that insulin sensitivity in particular appears crucial.

Given what we know right now, a Mediterranean diet - with its heart-healthy emphasis on fish, vegetables, fruits, nuts, healthy fats like olive oil, whole grains and limited consumption of red meat - "is probably the best approach for improving longevity", Carstensen says.

But the benefits are pretty modest. If you hate eating that way, then the payoff probably won't feel worth it to you, she says. At least try to eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables.

The idea of red wine as a health elixir became popular in the 1980s with the observation that rates of coronary heart disease were low in France, despite the predominance of a diet relatively high in fat and cholesterol. The French penchant for a glass of red wine with dinner was proposed as an explanation for this "French Paradox", popularisingthe notion of red wine as heart helper.

Subsequent studies have indeed found that moderate alcohol consumption may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, and a two-year randomisedclinical trial in Israel showed that people with Type 2 diabetes who were assigned to drink a glass of red wine with dinner every night experienced some improvements in blood markers associated with cardiovascular disease risk.

But other studies suggest that alcohol may raise the risk of many cancers, and a report published last year in the journal Lancet concluded that there's no amount of alcohol that improves health. What gives?

"Alcohol studies are very much like nutrition studies - based almost exclusively on self-reports, and we know that people are really bad at self-reporting," Carstensen says. "Most people, when they say they're drinking two drinks per day, are probably consuming more. We don't know the amounts that people are consuming nor do we know what else they do."

There's some evidence that people who abstain from alcohol are sicker or less healthy than those who imbibe a little.

"That probably reflects not a lack of alcohol in their system, but something about their world - that they're sick or isolated or don't have friends to meet at the pub," Carstensen says. "I've never seen a study that's really controlled for all of those factors." Which means that the studies calculating the health consequences of alcohol consumption depend on consumption figures that are inherently unreliable and may fail to account for other factors that could be at play.

Drinking to excess - more than one or two drinks a day - is unhealthy, and will take a toll on your longevity - no doubt about it. But taking the published studies together, "I don't think we have a lot of evidence that moderate alcohol is bad for you," Carstensen says. At the same time, she'd "be very hesitant to recommend that people who don't drink should start".

In today's world, it's easy to live in a state of chronic stress, and the problem isn't just that stress feels lousy. It also makes you more susceptible to diseases that could shorten your life.

Researchers are now learning that many conditions associated with older age - such as cancer, heart attacks and Alzheimer's disease - share a common ingredient: inflammation.

Under normal conditions, inflammation is simply the body's response to injury - it's how the body heals cuts and wounds and other insults, Cole says. "Inflammation by itself is not inherently evil." But when we're feeling chronically threatened or under siege, our bodies amp up their inflammatory machinery to ready our biological response to injury, and that inadvertently fuels the development of an array of age-related diseases, where inflammation is a common fertiliser, Cole says.

Research has identified chronic stresses that can provoke harmful biological changes, including living in poverty, caregiving for a dying spouse, losing a loved one, suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, and experiencing prejudice.

"Any way of feeling threatened or insecure seems to be enough to activate the body to produce more inflammation," Cole says. "This is one of the best defined connections between the world as we experience it and how we end up generating a body that's a fertile ground for the development of these diseases."

Your chance of developing chronic inflammation also rises with the passing years. "Inflammation seems to be a general sign of aging, where our inflammatory processes are being turned on or accumulated," Lithgow says. "Age-related inflammation is very much like inflammation from an injury, but now it's coming on without a source of infection."

What's the antidote? "Obviously we should all just be happy," Cole says with a laugh, as if it were that easy. He knows that it's not and says you probably can't eliminate stress from your life, but you can find ways to manage it. Identify the recurring stressors in your life, and work on a plan to diffuse them.

Wellness strategies such as yoga, tai chi and meditation can reliably help diffuse stress, Cole says, although he acknowledges that they often don't make a huge difference.

Forging connections with other people has been found to be a powerful way to manage stress and improve your overall wellbeing.

"People who report having stronger relationships live longer than people who are socially isolated," Carstensen says. A meta-analysis published in 2015 calculated that loneliness and social isolation were associated with 29 per cent and 26 per cent increases in mortality risk, respectively, and living alone was linked to a 32 per cent increase risk of dying.

What's clear is that people who have a strong sense of purpose and meaning in their lives have a markedly lower risk of death than those who don't.

"How we can bottle that and make it useful is more of a challenge," says Cole, who has studied loneliness and longevity.

Telling a lonely person to stop being lonely doesn't work, Cole says, "but if you can go to the lonely person and say, 'Hey, we really need your help. Is there anything you can do to help others?' - that is incredibly powerful. The mechanism here seems to be turning attention away from yourself and your own suffering and toward a community or cause greater than yourself."

Centenarians tend to have a sense of purpose in their lives.

"It's really important that people who are entering the later phases of life have a clear purpose, something to get up for every day," Lithgow says. That thing can be anything from looking after a grandchild or working or tending a garden.

Many centenarians continued working into their 80s, 90s and beyond, Lithgow says, and usually these jobs are in environments where they interact with younger people.

Interacting with other generations can keep older people engaged, and some retirement communities and nursing facilities are now taking steps to give their residents opportunities to connect with kids - for instance, placing kindergarten classrooms in nursing homes.

Most of the proven tips for living a long, healthy life are not products that you buy, but good lifestyle habits that you adopt (or bad ones, such as smoking, that you either quit or never take up and are clearly associated with diminished longevity).

Even something as simple as always wearing a seat belt can reduce your chances of dying early. Most of the things that make up a longevity lifestyle are simple - exercise, eat (and drink) healthily, sleep adequately, stay engaged - if only people would do them.

"To me, the bottom line is: Live a reasonably moderate life and you'll be OK," Carstensen says.

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Push-ups? Here's what can really help you live to a ripe old age - The Australian Financial Review

Most would agree NCIS is a great show. It has a huge fan base and is one of the most-watched television dramas. However, the shows following hasnt translated into an Emmy award (at least not yet). Heres how the NCIS cast feels about the series being passed over for an Emmy after all these years.

Mark Harmon told Entertainment Tonight host Kevin Frazier he knows how fortunate he is to be part of NCIS. Harmon said he tells actors who decide to leave the show that theyre leaving a special place with a lot of support. He also reminds them theyre leaving one of the top shows in the world:

And if we can talk about awards or talk about whatever, the longevity of this show, I tell young actors all the time. I say, Hey, are you gonna leave? Thats great. Good luck. And I said, But you come here, and you have a chance to work every day with friends who are going to support you. You work with a tremendous safety net underneath you here that nobodys going to let you fail. And I said, And theyre paying you. And, oh yeah, by the way, its the number one show in the world.

Harmon told Frazier the people who are part of NCIS genuinely enjoy being there. He says its a family environment where everyone comes together to just chat and talk about whats going on in their personal lives. I think its great that people love it, and people enjoy it. And we all sit here and laugh and talk about our day and how we approach it. But theres a bunch of professionals here who know what theyre doing. And I dont know that this kind of thing in network television is going to happen again, Harmon said.

Frazier asked the cast how they feel about doing such great work but never receiving an Emmy. This show has done Emmy-caliber work, but youve never won an Emmy. When you think about that, does it bother you? he asked. Rocky Carroll, who plays NCIS Director Leon Vance, says he isnt bothered about the lack of an Emmy when he thinks about the fate of shows that have one multiple Emmy awards. I think of all the shows that have won multiple Emmys that are not on the air, that have run their course. And, you know, I say that jokingly, but there are a lot of shows that have stood on the podium and accepted Emmys, but theyre in the Where are They Now? file now. And were still here, Carroll said.

Brian Dietzen (Jimmy Palmer) says not receiving an Emmy doesnttake away from the fact that theyre a talented cast:

I do think that 16 years, longevity doesnt preclude it from having some pretty awesome performances. I mean, whether its guest stars or some of the people in these chairs. There have been some amazing performances this year. The fact that we dont get recognized for awards season, its a bummer. I think wed all love to see that happen and whatnot, but that doesnt mean that the good work isnt happening right here. The fact that the people who do watch this show, see that and appreciate it, I think thats kind of what we hang our hat on.

Read more: InsideCote de Pablo and Mark Harmons Sweet Relationship

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'NCIS': How the Cast Feels About Not Receiving an Emmy - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

In many industries, theres usually one or two companies that become nearly synonymous with their particular market. One of the most obvious examples is Coca Cola (KO). Think about it: We still refer to a soda as a coke, even though the soft drink manufacturer allegedly abandoned using cocaine in its formulation long ago. In emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, its more difficult to pinpoint a clear leader in many cases. Nvidia (NVDA) is still the obvious choice for AI chips. After that, there are very few household names that represent anything close to a pure play in AI technology. However, one name has emerged in the last few years that has become the face of AI drug discovery: Insilico Medicine.

Regular readers will certainly recognize the startup as a key player in the longevity industry. Weve profiled the company on several lists here and here related to drug discovery, as part of our ongoing coverage of life extension science. September was a particularly good month for the Rockville, Maryland startup. At the beginning of the month, it published a paper in Nature Biotechnology that detailed its efforts to design and validate a drug candidate for treating fibrosis and other diseases in just 46 days, shaving off months if not years from the discovery process, not to mention saving millions of dollars. A week later, the five-year-old startup completed a $37 million Series B, bringing its total disclosed funding to $51.3 million.

Insilico Medicine co-founder and CEO Alex Zhavoronkov

We recently caught up with Insilico Medicine co-founder and CEO Alex Zhavoronkov, who is on a crusade to prove that automation will be a big part of the future of healthcare. We talked about the companys recent achievement in accelerating the drug discovery process; its open challenge to big pharma; Insilicos numerous partnerships and joint ventures; the difficulties in getting funding for longevity therapy research and development; and the AI hype surrounding healthcare in general.

We wont spend too much time dissecting Insilicos latest achievement, as thats already gotten plenty of press. You can find a good deep dive into the paper and its significance by Margaretta Colangelo, a managing partner at Deep Knowledge Ventures, which made some of the first investments in the company about five years ago. It wasnt just the fact that Insilico Medicines new AI platform, called Generative Tensorial Reinforcement Learning (GENTRL), accomplished the feat of designing and validating a drug in such a short timeframe. It was also the first time anyone had combined two AI techniques known as generative adversarial networks (GANs) and generative reinforcement learning for drug discovery. Both Colangelo and Zhavoronkov refer to the achievement as pharmas AlphaGo moment, referring to Google DeepMinds defeat of a professional Go player.

Insilico Medicines AI platform, called Generative Tensorial Reinforcement Learning (GENTRL), combines two AI techniques known as generative adversarial networks and generative reinforcement learning for drug discovery. Credit: Insilico Medicine

Zhavoronkov first presented the paper at a conference in Basal, Switzerland, hometown to two of big pharmas biggest players Roche and Novartis. The choice of venue was obviously intentional, as Insilico has actively sought the spotlight since it was founded in 2014 in order to prove the value of AI to improve human health and quality of life. In 2015, for example, a group of Zhavoronkovsstudents and colleagues founded, Youth Laboratories, listing him as an adviser. It was a machine vision company that focused on aging and skin health which made headlines in 2016 for hosting an online beauty contest, Beauty.AI, that was judged solely by machines and attracted a bit of controversy for picking mostlyfair-skinned people. That led to yet another project, Diversity.AI, an effort to use machine learning to make sure we all have an equal opportunity to be spied on marketed to. Last year, the company was named to CB Insights prestigious AI 100 list.

But back to Insilicos primary focus: defeating age-related disease. Zhavoronkov believes his companys AI platform has advanced to the point where it could automate drug pipeline development from end to end and produce a marketable drug within 24 months or less with the right kind of backing. So while its efforts have focused on pre-clinical activities like identifying drug targets and developing therapeutic molecules around those specific disease targets, Insilicos AI also boasts predictive powers.

Insilico Medicine applies artificial intelligence throughout the drug development pipeline. Credit: Insilico Medicine

We also work with some of our pharma partners on predicting clinical trial outcomes; we also analyze clinical trials data, said Zhavoronkov, who is looking to partner with a major pharmaceutical company on an XPRIZE-type challenge where Insilico races against the clock to develop the first drug fully developed using artificial intelligence and one that targets a rare disease. If no contenders emerge, Zhavoronkov said he still believes it will be possible to develop a viable drug using AI within four or five years.

He noted that investment banks are also interested in Insilicos AI predictive analytics around clinical outcomes. The reason for the attention is obvious: If investors can leverage a tool that can better predict the chance of success or failure of a particular drug, that would surely influence how much money if any they are willing to put into a particular project or company. Weve noted previously that venture capitalists are increasingly turning toward AI to guide their investments into the hottest startups.

While Insilico awaits to see what big pharma company will emerge to take up its challenge, it has plenty of other partnerships and ventures to juggle. In fact, the company just announced today a new collaboration worth up to $200 million with one of Chinas biggest pharmaceutical companies, Jiangsu Chia Tai Fenghai Pharmaceutical Co. The goal of the collaboration is to accelerate drug discovery for triple-negative breast cancer using artificial intelligence.

We actually started making those kind of advanced partnerships where we would plan to take products into [clinical trials] only recently, Zhavoronkov said, for about the last year or so.

He noted that his company has about 16 ongoing collaborations, including several with one of the key players in the longevity industry Juvenescence. One of the more advanced joint ventures with Juvenescence is with a company called Generait Pharmaceuticals that is targeting senescent cells, which are cells that have stopped dividing but continue to secrete inflammatory molecules that damage nearby cells and tissues, leading to disease and an earlier death. Generait has already identified several disease targets but Zhavoronkov could not go into details at this time.

A sampling of some of the deals and partnerships brokered by Insilico Medicine. Credit: Insilico Medicine

Another joint venture between Juvenescence and Insilico, which also includes the nonprofit Buck Institute for Research on Aging, is Napa Therapeutics. Insilico has already done its part and Napa is now working on several potential drug molecules that could help boost the levels of an oxidized compound called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), which is involved in getting the power plant of the cell called the mitochondria revved up again. So far, the molecules look very good, Zhavoronkov said.

Many [partnerships] are with smaller companies, you know, where we do get less money up front, but we do get the data, he noted. We need their pre-clinical data so we can train [our algorithms].

While Zhavoronkov is obviously pleased to have just pocketed $37 million from investors like Chinese AI tech giant Baidu and a pharmaceutical firm like Eli Lilly and Company, he feels that respect for the longevity industry is still lacking. For example, few of Insilicos major investors backed the company because they are specifically interested in life extension science, according to Zhavoronkov.

They invested not because of longevity. I actually need to divest of some of my longevity-focused programs, he explained. They invested because of the generative chemistry. It works; they know it works. Thats a major disruption. So thats why they invested. They didnt consider longevity; longevity is not being perceived as credible in financial circles yet.

Legitimacy is also difficult to build when there is so much hype around artificial intelligence.

There are lots and lots of scientific charlatans very often re-positioning very old technology as AI, he said. Suddenly, every statistician within big pharma became an AI scientist.

In terms of direct competitors, Zhavoronkov noted that he deeply respects the work being done by San Francisco-based Atomwise, but the technology from others is mostly smoke and mirrors. Thats why Insilico is focused on publishing its work in peer-reviewed journals in order to back up its claims. The company has published about 60 papers in the last five years.

Thats because Zhavoronkov believes that there is nothing more important than longevity, whether youre talking about the big-picture economics of healthcare or living more productive, healthier years in the twilight of life.

The goal is to create the longevity economy, he said. So, in the next couple years, as we ingest a little bit more data and develop more advanced algorithms, we will be able to go after more complex problems.

If the longevity industry does live up to its lofty goals of becoming the biggest industry in human history, Insilico Medicine will likely play a major role in that success. Even if we dont all end up living as old as Moses, the potential to cure some of humanitys most debilitating diseases is too good to ignore. And, right now, no one is ignoring Insilico Medicine.

We thinkthis AI-powered weight loss app could be a multi-billion dollar business - not because it's backed by the world's most sophisticated investors- but because it works. If you want to lose weight and keep it off for good, check out Noom. People who use Noom lose weight and keep it off for good.

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"The Aesthetic Medicine Congress", in collaboration with the British College of Aesthetic Medicine, takes place at the Hotel Palace from October 11 to 13. Top international and local experts will present trends in aesthetic medicine, rejuvenation and facial and body shaping for around 400 announced participants.

In addition to presenting the latest technology and research results, there will also be live demonstrations, interactive panels and lectures on topics ranging from aesthetic medicine to medical tourism.

The Second Congress of Aesthetic Medicine in Dubrovnik, under the high auspices of the President of the Republic of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, will be opened by Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli.

Apart from Croatia and the region, participants from Congress come from Britain, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Greece, USA, Mexico, India, UAE

The famous names of aesthetic medicine are coming to the congrees, such as Raj Kanodia, Tapan Patel, Matt Stefanelli, Bob Khanna, Herve Raspaldo, Tracy Mountford, Tom van Eijk, Iman Nurlin, Dimitris Sykianakis, Ravi Jain and David Ecclestone. The local experts and lecturers are Sinisa Glumicic, Mario Zambelli, Nikola Milojevic, Davor Mijatovic, Zoran Zgaljardic, Tomica Bagatin, Zeljana Bolanca, Aleksandar Milenovic, Mladen Dudukovic and others.

TAMC 2019 is an international aesthetic congress that offers an interactive, evidence-based, multidisciplinary program and provides a platform to encourage the exchange of ideas and experiences, educate, initiate intense discussions, and expand opportunities for new contacts.

TAMC 2019 covers all aspects of aesthetic medicine, and this year's highlights include: anti-aging and face shaping dermal fillers, skin rejuvenation treatments including stem cell and blood plasma treatments, aesthetic gynecology, life extension (gerontology), body shaping and fat reduction, Botulinum toxin type A basic and advanced techniques, complication management, anatomy, cosmetic surgery, cosmetic dentistry, patient communication, business building and marketing, as well as medical tourism.

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The Aesthetic Medicine Congress to bring trends in plastic surgery to Dubrovnik - The Dubrovnik Times

The Duchess of York, affectionately known as Fergie by the British public, decided to have pioneering regenerative stem cell therapy to be able to wear heels again. Fergie had to give up on her stilettos for a long time due to the excruciating pain she felt every time she tried to walk in them. And if she forced herself to wear high heels to mark important occasions she had to endure pain throughout the whole day.

Her feet caused Fergie trouble even during Princess Eugenies wedding last October.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, the Duchess of York said her feet were in such pain she felt relieved to be able to sit down in the pew and rest them for a while before Eugenie entered St Georges Chapel.

The source of the pain seemed to be her big toe, and now, thanks to regenerative stem cell therapy the Duchess is no longer in pain every time she opts to wear shows other than flats.

Fergie headed to the Bahamas to undergo stem cell therapy - an alternative to surgery which is yet to be proven fully safe and effective on humans and is therefore not widely available in the UK.

Speaking about her trip, she said: I went to the Bahamas in March to have the treatment.

I think my toes were ruined by all the riding I did when I was young.

They shaved the bone here and implanted stem cells 20 million of them taken from my midriff into my feet to make new cartilage.

It takes about six months to heal but now I can walk in heels!

READ MORE:The touching reason Beatrice will have British wedding

Fergie underwent a series of treatments during the years, including vitamin injections, organic fillers and botox - which she had a long time ago, when there was nothing else available.

Ahead of Eugenies wedding, Fergie underwent laser treatment to look her best.

Fergie attributed her glowing skin on October 12, the day of Princess Eugenies wedding, to her happiness.

But she also revealed she did seek the help of a professional to improve her natural beauty.

She said: The happiness was shining out of me because my daughter was getting married.

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I was so glad. I love Jack. When Im passionate about anything, my eyes shine.

Above all, it was being joyful for Eugenie that made me look good.

But Id had some laser treatment on my face which helped, too.

Despite having used several techniques to stave off ageing, Fergie said there is one she is no longer going to have - Botox.

She said: I had Botox a long time ago when there was nothing else available.

I really dont like the frozen look.

Im so animated and I like to be myself.

I dont like the thought of needles and am very glad if I look well and happy.

Fergie also said she has stopped sunbathing after suffering two losses in her life which helped her realise she must take care of her skin just as well as any other organs.

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Sarah Ferguson was in pain during Eugenies wedding - and needed treatment to recover - Express

The nation's leading regenerative training company, R3 Stem Cell, today announced the addition of world renowned Exosomes expert Dr. Ian White as a speaker at its training courses. He will be speaking at the October 18, 2019 course on Exosomes and there are still a few spots remaining!

LAS VEGAS, Oct. 10, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- R3 Stem Cell announces it has added an exosome presentation to its upcoming regenerative training courses. The next course is October 18-19th, 2019 in Las Vegas with spots still open.

The speaker, Dr. Ian White PhD, is a world renowned expert on exosomes. He completed training at several Ivy League universities including Cornell, Harvard and Dartmouth. He currently serves as the Chief Scientific Officer at IMAC Regeneration Centers along with being President of Biofirma, which is a regenerative tissue manufacturing company.

Dr. White regular speaks worldwide on the topic of exosomes, stem cells and how they participate clinically to help optimize regenerative therapy outcomes. Exosome stem cell therapy is an amazing therapeutic option for patients, however, most providers do not understand the biologics and how to implement them properly.

According to R3 CEO David Greene, MD, MBA, "Obtaining knowledge on exosomes is important now, as patients are asking about them! Providers need to understand when to use them, how they work, and should have hands on experience with them. Our training course provides all of that experience."

R3 Stem Cell is the nation's leader in regenerative training, and provides a comprehensive education and hands on experience for providers to become their local leader. Along with offering the first rate exosome presentation, R3 will also have exosomes products on hand for attendees to try in a hands on setting.

Limited spots are still available for the upcoming October 18-19, 2019 training in Las Vegas. R3 is still offering $1000 off for the training, visit https://stemcelltrainingcourse.org/registration/ to sign up or call (844) GET-STEM.

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R3 Stem Cell Announces Addition of World Renowned Exosome Expert Dr. Ian White to Training Course - Yahoo Finance

A research report on Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis Market 2019 Industry Research Report is being published by researchunt.com. This is a key document as far as the clients and industries are concerned to not only understand the competitive market status that exists currently but also what future holds for it in the upcoming period, i.e., between 2018 and 2025. It has taken the previous market status of 2013 2018 to project the future status. The report has categorized in terms of region, type, key industries, and application.

A sample of report copy could be downloaded by visiting the site:marketreports.co/global-stem-cell-therapy-for-multiple-sclerosis-market-size-status-and-forecast-2019-2025/172555/#Free-Sample-Report

Global Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis revenue was xx.xx Million USD in 2013, grew to xx.xx Million USD in 2017, and will reach xx.xx Million USD in 2023, with a CAGR of x.x% during 2018-2023.

Major Geographical Regions

The study report on Global Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple SclerosisMarket 2018 would cover every big geographical, as well as, sub-regions throughout the world. The report has focused on market size, value, product sales and opportunities for growth in these regions. The market study has analyzed the competitive trend apart from offering valuable insights to clients and industries. These data will undoubtedly help them to plan their strategy so that they could not only expand but also penetrate into a market.

The researchers have analyzed the competitive advantages of those involved in the industries or in the Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosisindustry. While historical years were taken as 2013 2017, the base year for the study was 2017. Similarly, the report has given its projection for the year 2018 apart from the outlook for years 2018 2025.

Key Players and Type

Like any other research material, the report has covered key geographical regions such as Europe, Japan, United States, India, Southeast Asia and Europe. Researchers have given their opinion or insights of value, product sales, and industry share besides availability opportunities to expand in those regions. As far as the sub-regions, North America, Canada, Medico, Australia, Asia-Pacific, India, South Korea, China, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, Rest of Asia-Pacific, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, Rest of Europe, Russia, Central & South America, Middle East & Africa are included.

Major players in the report included are :

Types covered in theStem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosisindustryare :

Applications covered in the report are :

Report Aims

The objective of the researchers is to find out sales, value, and status of the Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosisindustry at the international levels. While the status covers the years of 2013 17, the forecast is for the period 2018 25 that will enable market players to not only plan but also execute strategies based on the market needs.

Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @marketreports.co/global-stem-cell-therapy-for-multiple-sclerosis-market-size-status-and-forecast-2019-2025/172555/

The study wanted to focus on key manufacturers, competitive landscape, and SWOT analysis for Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosisindustry. Apart from looking into the geographical regions, the report concentrated on key trends and segments that are either driving or preventing the growth of the industry. Researchers have also focused on individual growth trend besides their contribution to the overall market.

There are 15 Chapters to display the GlobalStem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosismarket.

Sections 1. Industry Synopsis of Global Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis Market.

Sections 2. Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis Market Organization Producers analysis and Profiles.

Sections 3. Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis Market Size by Type and Application.

Sections 4. Global Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis Market 2018 Analysis by key traders.

Sections 5. Europe Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis Industry Report Development Status and Outlook.

Sections 6. Japan Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis Industry Report Development Status and Outlook.

Sections 7. Development Status and improvements of Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis Market in the United States.

Sections 8. Southeast Asia Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis Market Improvement Status and Outlook.

Sections 9. China Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis Market Report Development Status and Outlook.

Sections 10. India Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis Market Development Status and Outlook.

Sections 11. Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis Market Figure by Aoplications, areas, and Sorts (2018-2023)

Sections 12. Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis Market Factors Analysis.

Sections 13. Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis Market Dynamics.

Sections 14. Research Findings and Conclusions of Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis Market.

Sections 15. Appendix.

Browse Detailed TOC, Tables, Figures, Charts And Companies Mentioned In Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis Market Research Report At@marketreports.co/global-stem-cell-therapy-for-multiple-sclerosis-market-size-status-and-forecast-2019-2025/172555/#Buying-Enquiry

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Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis Market 2025: Topmost manufacturers With Size, Regions, Types, Major Drivers, Profits - TheFinanceTime

Regenerative medicine is a segment of translational research in molecular biology and tissue engineering. It involves the process of regeneration of human cells, tissues, or organs to re-establish their normal functions through stimulation of bodys repair system. They are widely used in the treatment of many degenerative disorders occurring in the areas of dermatology, orthopedic, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. Stem cell therapy is the available tool in the field of translational regenerative medicine. It has gained importance in the past few years as it is a bio-based alternative to synthetic options. Stem cells have high power of regeneration. Hence, these enable production of other cells in the body. This has increased demand for stem cell therapy in the treatment of degenerative diseases. Currently, stem cell therapy has applications in the treatment of diseases such as autism, cancer, retinal diseases, heart failure, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, Alzheimers. Extensive research is being carried out on stem cell therapy. The Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) has reported around 1900 active clinical trials undergoing currently. It also reported 574 active industry-sponsored cell therapy clinical studies, 50 of these are in phase 3 development. Hence, stem cell therapy is projected to contribute to the growth of the translational regenerative medicine market. However, ethical issues in the use of embryonic stem cells is likely to restrain the market.

Rising prevalence of degenerative diseases, aging population, rapid growth of emerging countries, and technical advancements in developed countries are the major factors fueling the growth of the translational regenerative medicine market.

Browse more detail information about this report visit at at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/translational-regenerative-medicine-market.html

The global translational regenerative medicine market has been segmented based on product type, therapy, application, and region. In terms of product type, the market has been categorized into cellular and acellular. The cellular segment dominated the global market in 2016. Based on therapy, the global translational regenerative market has been segmented into cell therapy, gene therapy, immunotherapy, and tissue engineering. Immunotherapy is projected to be the fastest growing segment during the forecast period. In terms of application, the market has been segmented into orthopedic & musculoskeletal, cardiology, diabetes, central nervous system diseases, dermatology, and others. Cardiology and orthopedic & musculoskeletal are anticipated to be the fastest growing segments of the global translational regenerative medicine market.In terms of region, the global translational regenerative medicine market has been segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. North America dominated the global regenerative medicine market owing to a large number of leading companies and expansion of research and development activities in the U.S. Increased medical reimbursement and advanced health care also drive the market in the region. Orthopedic is the leading application segment contributing to the growth of the market in the region. Asia Pacific is forecasted the huge growth because of large consumer pool, rising income, and health care expenditure. However, the market in Asia Pacific could face challenges such as high cost of bio-based medicines and stringent regulatory policies.

The global translational regenerative medicine market is dominated by key players such as CONMED Corporation, Arthrex, Inc., Organogenesis, Inc., Nuvasive, Inc., Osiris Therapeutics, Inc., Celgene Corporation, Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics Inc. and Medtronic.

The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.

Request For Custom Research At https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=CR&rep_id=30440&source=atm

The study is a source of reliable data on: Market segments and sub-segments Market trends and dynamics Supply and demand Market size Current trends/opportunities/challenges Competitive landscape Technological breakthroughs Value chain and stakeholder analysis

The regional analysis covers: North America (U.S. and Canada) Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others) Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg) Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia) Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand) Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)

The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.

A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period.

Highlights of the report: A complete backdrop analysis, which includes an assessment of the parent market Important changes in market dynamics Market segmentation up to the second or third level Historical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volume Reporting and evaluation of recent industry developments Market shares and strategies of key players Emerging niche segments and regional markets An objective assessment of the trajectory of the market Recommendations to companies for strengthening their foothold in the market

Note:Although care has been taken to maintain the highest levels of accuracy in TMRs reports, recent market/vendor-specific changes may take time to reflect in the analysis.

Request for TOC of This Report visit at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=30440&source=atm

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Translational Regenerative Medicine Market Estimated to Expand at a Robust CAGR over 2017 2025 - Online News Guru

We often talk about genetics as if its set in stone. She just has good genes or He was born with it are common phrases.

However, over the past decade, biochemists and geneticists have discovered that your genetic expression changes over time. Based on environmental factors, certain genes may be strongly expressive while others are dormant.

In fact, a 2016 study of human longevity found that only 25% of health outcomes are attributable to genetics. The other 75% of outcomes are attributable to environmental factors. Among those environmental factors, diet and nutrition play a major role.

An entire branch of scientific research has now exploded around nutrigenomics, the study of the interaction between nutrition and genetics. Scientists now understand that genes set the baseline for how your body can function, but nutrition modifies the extent to which each gene is expressed.

As more data comes in about the types and quality of food that improve health outcomes, high-tech farmers are also entering the nutrigenomics conversation. Using precision agriculture, they hope to produce food thats targeted to deliver a nutrient-rich, genetically beneficial diet.

Implications Of Nutrigenomics

Researchers have found that theres no such thing as a perfect diet. Dietary recommendations are not one-size-fits-all. Each individual needs different nutritional choices for optimal health and gene expression. In addition, each person is different in the extent to which their genes and health are impacted by their diet.

Geneticists and nutritionists are working together to study the dietary levers that most impact genetic expression. If theyre successful, it may be possible to prevent and treat disease through individualized nutrition tailored to your genetic profile. Indeed, you may walk into a doctors office and leave with a dietary prescription customized to your DNA.

In the near future, instead of diagnosing and treating diseases caused by genome or epigenome damage, health care practitioners may be trained to diagnose and nutritionally prevent or even reverse genomic damage and aberrant gene expression, reports Michael Fenech, a research scientist at CSIRO Genome Health and Nutrigenomics Laboratory.

The initial results of nutrigenomics studies are promising. A healthy, personalized diet has the potential to prevent, mitigate, or even cure certain chronic diseases. Nutrigenomics has shown promise in preventing obesity, cancer and diabetes.

If Food Is Medicine, Food Quality Matters

Nutrient abundance or deficiency is the driving factor behind nutrigenomics. Foods that have grown in poor conditions have a lower nutritional density. In turn, eating low-quality foods can have a significant impact on human gene expression. In order to take advantage of the findings of nutrigenomics, consumers need access to high-quality, nutrient-dense foods.

Similar to human health, plant health is impacted by the combination of genes and nutrient intake. Healthy soil, correctly applied fertilization techniques, and other forms of environmental management lead to healthy crops.

However, applying these custom growing techniques at a large scale is a major challenge. Agriculture technology (AgTech) will play a big role in allowing farmers to precisely manage the growing conditions and nutrient delivery for their crops. In turn, this precision farming will make crops more nutritious and targeted for nutrigenomics-driven diets.

Making Food Thats Better For Us

Plant health relies on nutrient uptake from the soil. In order to ensure plants receive the nutrients they need, farmers need to precisely apply additives where theyre needed. With in-ground sensors, advanced mapping of crop quality across a field, and other technologies, farmers can target their applications of water and nutrients to match plant needs. The days of broadly applying generic fertilizer to entire fields are coming to an end.

Farmers play an integral role in providing access to diverse, nutritious food, explains Remi Schmaltz, CEO of Decisive Farming. Nutrient deficiency in plants and the soil can contribute to the deficiencies found in humans. The opportunity exists to address these deficiencies through precision nutrition delivered by the agriculture sector.

Additionally, CRISPR and other technologies allow us to experiment with the genetic makeup of plants, increasing nutrition and flavor, both pluses for consumers. In recent years, genetic modification has produced disease-resistant bananas, more flavorful tomatoes, lower gluten wheat, non-browning mushrooms and sustainable rice. While there has been a lot of skepticism over genetically-modified crops, multiple studies have shown that GMOs are safe for consumption and can even improve plant health and nutrition.

Using Biochemistry And Big Data To Create Better Food And Healthier People

Nutrigenomics will completely change how we think about health and disease prevention. Indeed, personalized diet recommendations that are tailored to your genes could be a new form of medicine for chronic illnesses.

Nevertheless, a key part of making nutrigenomics effective is having access to high-quality, nutrient-dense foods. AgTech is using the internet of things, AI, precision farming and gene editing to make nutrient-dense food more readily available. The benefits to public health from these efforts could change the way we think about medicine, longevity and what it means to be healthy.

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Food As Medicine: What Biochemistry And Genetics Are Teaching Us About How To Eat Right - Forbes

In 2009, researchers collected DNA from four elderly men in Namibia, each from one of the many San indigenous communities scattered across southern Africa. A year later, analyses of the mens DNA were published in the journal Naturealongside that of South African human rights activist Desmond Tutu. The intention, in part, was to increase the visibility of southern, indigenous Africans in genetic-based medical research. Soon after, a nongovernmental organization representing indigenous minorities in Southern Africa took issue with the consent procedures used to gather the data and wrote to Natures editors accusing the papers authors of absolute arrogance, ignorance, and cultural myopia.

The San case highlights the thorny ethics of collecting genetic data. Yet today, to make medicine more equitable, scientists see the importance of sampling DNA from more diverse populations. Most genetic research uses DNA from descendants of Europeans, which means the related medical applicationssuch as genetic tests to see the likelihood of developing a certain disease, called polygenic risk assessments can only benefit those populations. In 2018 in the United States, for example, the National Institutes of Health launched All of Us, a research program that aims to collect DNA, electronic health records, and other data, from about one million Americans with emphasis on including many different groups of people.

When we do genetic studies, trying to understand the genetic basis of common and complex diseases, were getting a biased snapshot, said Alicia Martin, a geneticist at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Broad Institute, a biomedical and genomics research center affiliated with Harvard and MIT.

Research to capture these snapshots, called genome-wide association studies, can only draw conclusions about the data thats been collected. Without studies that look at each underrepresented population, genetic tests and therapies cant be tailored to everyone. Still, projects intended as correctives, like All of Us and the International HapMap Project, face an ethical conundrum: Collecting that data could exploit the very people the programs intend to help.

Researchers with All of Us have already collected data from about 1,600 Native Americans, some of whom live in cities outside of sovereign lands, where tribal approval is not necessary for genetic research, according to Krystal Tsosie, a geneticist at Vanderbilt University who is co-leading a study in collaboration with a tribal community in North Dakota .

Obviously theres an interest in monetizing biomarkers collected from diverse populations and underrepresented populations, Tsoise said, so without adequate protections, the concern becomes about exploitation.

Medical genetic research generally works like this: Geneticists use powerful computers to compare the genomes of people affected by a particular disease to healthy controls. Researchers mark genetic patterns that are common in people with, say, diabetes, but not the controls, as associated with the disease. The more samples geneticists feed to the algorithms, the more likely that the findings reflect reality.

But studies restricted to descendants of Europeans will only find associations between diseases and variants that are common in European ancestry populations, said Martinif those variants are common enough to be found.

Scientists use the results to develop polygenic risk scores, which count the risky variants on someones genome to estimate their susceptibility to a disease. But if studies dont use the genomes of non-white populations, the tests wont pick up on the problematic variants in different groups of people. One 2019 Nature Genetics study, on which Martin was an author, determined that these blind spots reduce the accuracy of polygenic tests by approximately two and five times in South or East Asian, and black populations, respectively.

In many cases, the groups whose DNA is missing have worse health care outcomes compared to their white counterparts, and genetic medicine could worsen these disparities. I think theres a huge responsibility, said Martin. If we look at the history of the field, over the past decade weve gone from participants in genetic studies being 96% European ancestry to about 80 percent. Weve shifted gears a little bit, but not nearly enough to be able to serve minority populations. Jantina De Vries, a bioethicist at the University of Cape Town, agreed that representation in genomics research can bring health benefits, particularly if it is paired with measures to build research capacity so that, eventually, there are researchers at every level within the groups themselves.

Collecting broader genetic samples poses a host of challenges. Efforts to collect and study the genomes of indigenous peoples, for example, have been controversial since the early 90s. The first such project, called the Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP), was meant to explore the full range of genome diversity within the human family by collecting DNA samples from about 500 distinct groups, with an emphasis on indigenous peoples that might soon vanish. Indigenous-rights organizations criticized the project, taking issue with being treated as mere objects of scientific interest and potential for commercialization. All of Us, more recently, has run into similar objections from the National Congress of American Indians.

The concerns are linked to the long history of exploitative encounters between researchers and vulnerable populations. The Tuskegee Studyin which the US Public Health Service withheld treatment from African American men with syphilislasted from 1932 until 1972, ending less than 20 years before the HGDP proposal. And in 1989, researchers from Arizona State University collected DNA samples from the Havasupai Tribe and reused the data for research to which the participants hadnt consented: on schizophrenia, inbreeding, and migration history. Tsosie said this context has created a climate in which weve seen tribes deciding to disengage from biomedical research completely.

All the geneticists and ethicists Undark spoke with agreed that community engagement is crucial to establish trust. But they didnt agree on the degree of the engagement. Some believed that gaining the consent of communities is necessary for ethical research, while others said it was enough to have respect and open dialogue between researchers and the people theyd like to study.

But both approaches are difficult in the context of collecting and analyzing genetic data, since geneticists take DNA from individuals to make conclusions about entire populations. For instance, the San paper in Nature extrapolated findings regarding individual genomes to discuss the genomes of the broader communities. Ones genome is not their own specifically; ones genome is informed by their recent ancestry, their family structures, and their more distant ancestry, said Tsosie. Geneticists are never talking about an individual thats siloed.

The gap between individual and collective consent is partly responsible for the continued friction between genetic science and indigenous peoples. Collective consent, said Tsosie, who is herself Navajo, is more culturally consistent with how tribal groups govern themselves. In 2017, Andries Steenkamp, a San leader, and Roger Chennells, a lawyer, wrote that the Nature study failed in this regard by only getting informed consent from the indigenous individuals who participated.

Not everyone agrees that collective consent can or should be a requirement for all genetic studies. For instance, de Vries said, it depends what sort of community were talking about, drawing a contrast between small, rural, communities and larger populations spread across several cities or countries. If were talking about the entire Yoruba population, who would you even talk to? she added. The Yoruba are an ethic group of more than 20 million individuals, most of whom live in Nigeria, with smaller populations in Benin, Togo, and across several diaspora communities. De Vries believes the onus lies on researchers to think in terms of respecting communities, rather than in terms of collective consent.

Gaining collective consent involves logistical hurdles, especially for large-scale projects. The NIHs All of Us program, for example, wasnt able to get input from each of the 573 federally-recognized tribes. According to Tsosie, during the planning stages, there was talk of gaining tribal input, but that plan seemed to be abandoned early on. The All of Us website does have a section on tribal engagement, but only offers formal consultation and listening sessions for ongoing projects, not guidance on how to approach these issues before a project starts.

Among non-indigenous policymakers and scientists, Tsosie noted, theres a magical notion that stakeholders from every tribe can be brought together in one room when, in reality, that is not how we make consensus decisions for ourselves.

Even more difficult than logistics, perhaps, may be conceptualizing the genetic studies to begin withfor example, deciding which people belong in which groups. One of the greatest political acts, acts of power, that we perform as human beings is dividing ourselves up for the purpose of knowing and governing ourselves, said Jenny Reardon, a sociologist who specializes in genomics at the University of California, Santa-Cruz.

Globally, indigenous peoples are so culturally distinct from one another that a single understanding of a community wont resonate with everyone. Finding a method for data collection that crosses all indigenous groups is going to be really hard, said Vanessa Hayes, a geneticist at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and the University of Sydney in Australia who conducts fieldwork in South Africa. Because, straightaway, thats assuming all indigenous people are the same. Without common ground, scientists must do the hard work of understanding each unique community. As Hayes put it, every group that you work with, you have to respect that group, and take the time to understand what is important in that group.

Hayes was one of the authors of the 2010 Nature study on the San, and she was responsible for obtaining consent, gathering samples, and discussing the results with the community. While Steenkamp and Chennells suggested the researchers were hasty in their data collection and ignored governance structures, Hayes countered that, at the time of the study, shed already been working in these communities for more than a decade and they were working directly with government agencies. Shed been in contact with the Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA)the NGO which would eventually criticize the studybefore it began. But, she said, when I went back to the community and asked if they knew who WIMSA was, they said no. I asked them if they wanted WIMSA to represent them, and they said, Hell no.

(As an organization, WIMSA is currently being restructured. The South African San Council, which now represents the San communities of South Africa, declined an interview with Undark, citing a requirement for financial compensation and a signed contract.)

Hayes followed the principles of collective consent, she said, just at a lower level than formal institutions like WIMSA or the San Council: Their decision was made as a group. They are the group, they are the band, they are the family. She added, No one can represent them that is not them.

The difficulties in defining a group make collective consent even more challenging.

In the clearest of circumstances, where an established organization exists, approval processes can be difficult to navigate and can take months. But within some indigenous and minority groups, issues of representation remain controversial. Often, a scientist will have to invest a lot of time interacting with potential subjects in order to judge what consent procedures are appropriate. Few scientists have the necessary time and resources.

There is no easy way to choose which organizations to deal with, especially when there are internal disagreements about representation. Or, as Reardon put it: The folks that are trying to democratize the science are going to have the same problem as the people who were attempting to treat it as Were just going to go out and get these groups, and study them from a scientific perspective.

Although the repeated controversies surrounding research and indigenous groups may have slowed their inclusion in genetic science, the researchers Undark spoke with said ensuring these concerns are heard and addressed is a vital part of the work. Indigenous groups are demanding a greater say in research that concerns them, whether under the All of Us program or conducted by individual researchers in Africa. Resolving the ethical ambiguities is no easy task, but, as Hayes asked: Why should it be easy?

This article was originally published on Undark. Read the original article.

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The thorny ethics of collecting genetic data - Quartz

Since January 1, 2019, the research activities in oilcrop genetics and genomics of the company Biogemma moved to a new company, Innolea, under the control of three major French seed companies in oil crops: Euralis Semences, Limagrain, RAGT Semences and the innovation fund for oil and protein crops, Sofiprotol.

Innolea is supported by experienced teams andknow-how developed for more than 20 years by Biogemma and benefit of theinfrastructure of Mondonville (Haute-Garonne) site, which is now the headquarter,as well as the support of its shareholders.

Innoleas direction was given to Bruno Grzes-Besset who was research coordinator in Biogemma, and the presidency to Jean-Marc Ferullo, the research director of Euralis Semences.

Biogemmas research programs in rapeseed and sunflower, the main oil crops in France and Europe, are continued in Innolea. The sunflower program is led by Delphine Fleury and the rapeseed program by Sbastien Faure.

To support the French oil industry, Innoleasactivities focus on the genetics of traits of interest with direct applicationsto breeding new varieties. The main research areas will be the exploration ofgenetic diversity of the main oil crops of France and Europe and the characterisationof beneficial genes.

By creating this new company, the French oil and protein industry and the seeds companies demonstrate their engagement in supporting competitive research in applied genomics and pre-breeding. This leading-edge knowledge will enable offering new varieties to the French market, with improved agronomy and particularly plant resistance to diseases and pests.

Read more:
Innolea Created to Focus on Genetics and Genomics of Oil Crops - Seed World

Von Willebrand disease (VWD) is the most common hereditary bleeding disorder but one of the most difficult to diagnose, especially type 1 VWD. Recurrent challenges include the need to complete several assays of von Willebrand factor (VWF) activity and lack of consensus surrounding the acceptable standard for diagnosis. Consequently, improving current diagnostic techniques, as well as implementing new methods, is essential to ensure patients are provided optimal care.

In a review article published in Current Opinion in Hematology, Veronica H Flood, MD, of the department of pediatrics at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, and colleagues summarized the current literature surrounding the diagnosis of type 1 VWD. They also reviewed new advances in genetic testing for VWF, which could serve as a potential alternative to conventional laboratory methods.

Overview of Genetic Dysfunction

In contrast to type 2 VWD, type 1 VWD may include genetic defects in the coding region of the VWF gene. These mutations vary from insertions and deletions to point mutations that produce missense or nonsense mutations. With conventional sequencing methods, insertions and deletions can be missed, which has historically precluded the clinical use of genetic-based diagnostic techniques. These limitations are not typically seen in type 2 VWD as genetic defects are usually present in the DNA region specific to the impacted functional region.

Because of the high degree of polymorphism seen in the VWF gene, entire genome or exome sequencing may be required for diagnosis; in other instances, the VWF gene may be analyzed directly if a particular coagulation defect is suspected. In type 1 VWD, certain high frequency variants have been linked to disease etiology, but recent data have highlighted the potential role of novel variants in type 1 VWD. The high degree of variability seen in the VWF gene is certainly a key contributor to the disease phenotype, but not all defects will ultimately lead to VWD.

Modifier Genes and Diagnosis

In addition to defects in VWF, several genes independent of the VWF locus have been shown to affect VWF levels. The most described modifier gene is ABO, though others such as CLEC4M, STAB2, and STXBP5 also exist. Blood group O levels of less than 50 IU/dL are routinely used to establish a diagnosis of VWD, but some individuals with blood type O also meet this criteria despite being healthy. Some experts have proposed that low VWF may be more suitably described as a risk factor for bleeding instead of as the basis for bleeding.

Originally posted here:
Advances in the Diagnosis of Type 1 von Willebrand Disease: Genetic Testing - Hematology Advisor

TORONTO -- Dog owners, take note: If you're fed up with your pet's personality, there may not be much you can do about it.

A new study confirms something many people have long suspected, namely that canine behaviours are largely based on the animals' genetic makeup.

Researchers at four American universities analyzed genetic information and behaviour logs for 14,000 dogs from 101 breeds and determined that 60 to 70 per cent of the differences in personality traits between breeds can be explained by the genes they inherited from their parents.

Genetics were found to contribute most strongly to traits such as trainability, aggression toward strangers and attention-seeking. This fits with the idea that these were some of the most or least sought-after attributes during the early stages of breeding, making them essentially hard-wired into the breeds' DNA.

Because most of these breeds have only been in existence for 300 years or less, they have not had enough time to develop the sort of genetic diversity seen in species with longer histories.

This helps explain why greyhounds and Siberian huskies are some of the least aggressive dogs toward strangers, for example, or why Yorkshire terriers and toy poodles have trouble coping with separation.

The researchers were also able to find 131 genetic variations that appear to be linked to breed behaviour. They say this suggests that no individual gene is solely responsible for dogs' personality traits, and instead the relationships between genes come into play just as they do with humans.

Even some of the genes located by the researchers as being associated with dogs' neurological development mirror similar genes that have been found in humans.

"Dogs exhibit striking parallels to traits in humans," the study reads.

"For example, common genetic mechanisms contribute to individual differences in social behaviour in dogs and humans."

This suggests that further study of dog genetics could help illustrate how personality traits develop in humans, and which traits are more or less likely to be inherited, the researchers said.

The study was published Oct. 1 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

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Why is your dog so aggressive? The answer is largely in its DNA - CTV News

Name: Sue Jinks-Robertson

Position: Professor, Vice Chair and Director of the Cell and Molecular Biology Program

Years at Duke: 13

What she does at Duke: Jinks-Robertson has many duties in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology. She oversees the Cell and Molecular Biology Training Program which features around 100 graduate students and involves around 130 faculty members. She also co-directs the Cancer Genetics and Genomics program at Duke Cancer Institute.

But Jinks-Robertson is most at home in her lab, where she studies the genetic makeup of yeast.

Her team examines yeast DNA, looking for the factors behind mutations or changes in sequence. This research is important is because the DNA of yeast is essentially the same that found in many other organisms, including humans.

If we understand how this works in yeast, we can get information about what can go wrong in humans, Jinks-Robertson said.

The research is of great value in the fight against cancer, since it can occur when cells with genetic flaws multiply. Therapies that help identify and repair these flaws can be critical in battling the disease.

The basis for the therapies comes from the very basic work done in the trenches with an organism like yeast, Jinks-Robertson said.

What she loves about Duke: When she arrived at Duke after two decades on the faculty at Emory University, Jinks-Robertson was struck by the affection and loyalty her new colleagues both staff and faculty had for the university.

Soon, she too came to have a similar relationship with the university. She said its hard to pin down one specific reason for her connection with Duke, but she knows its there.

I dont know if its some of the physical structures around, like the Gardens, the Chapel, theres a central focus, of course theres basketball, its hard to put your finger on what it is, Jinks-Robertson said. Its just a very nice place to work. You feel connected to something bigger than yourself.

A memorable day at work: This spring, Jinks-Robertson was preparing for a major grant application when she got a call from colleague Thomas Petes with exciting news.

Petes, the Minnie Gellar Professor of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, told her that shed been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, a 156-year old organization comprised of the nations top scientific minds.

It was a big surprise, Jinks-Robertson said. If youre a scientist, at least in this country, its a great recognition.

Jinks-Robertson was one of two Duke scientists elected to the 2019 class. Susan Alberts, the Robert F. Durden Professor of Biology, also earned election to the academy.

The nicest part of it was that I was hit with a flood of emails and phone calls, it was really wonderful, Jinks-Robertson said.

Special object/memorabilia in her workspace: On a shelf in her office, Jinks-Robertson has a collection of gifts given to her by former students who came to Duke from other countries. Theres a statue of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of learning, which was given to her by a student from India. Theres also a vase from Russia, a screen from China and small house from the Philippines.

I like to think it shows I was successful in training the next generation, Jinks-Robertson said.

First ever job: A native of Panama City, Florida, Jinks-Robertson grew up around the water. As a child, she swam and water skied often. After she graduated from high school, she spent the next two summers working as a mermaid at Gulf World Marine Park, a popular attraction in Panama City.

We didnt have tails, but we had on scuba tanks and dove in saltwater tanks and fed the fish as people watched, Jinks-Robertson said of the mermaid role, which also had her swimming with dolphins and sea lions. It was fun.

Best advice received: In 1986, when she was finishing up her time as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Chicago working with Thomas Petes, who many years later helped bring her to Duke, Jinks-Robertson began looking for faculty positions.

I was pregnant with my first child and I was concerned about that, Jinks-Robinson said. His advice was, If its a problem, its not a place you want to be. He really put me at ease and told me I shouldnt worry about that. Hes always been very supportive of women in science.

Something most people dont know about her: Much of Jinks-Robertsons work is done with a sleeping labradoodle at her feet. With soft, curly light brown hair, Gracie is Jinks-Robertsons constant companion, often accompanying her to work.

Its calming, Jinks-Robertson said. I walk her every day, so it gets me moving and out of my chair. Shes good company.

Is there a colleague at Duke who has an intriguing job or goes above and beyond to make a difference? Nominate that person for Blue Devil of the Week.

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Blue Devil of the Week: Searching for Answers in the Genetic Code - Duke Today

LONDON, MUMBAI, India and BAYREUTH, Germany, Oct. 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

- RESILIENT Protocol captures Encyclopedic information from tumors and uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to optimize treatments;

- Objective Response and Disease Control Comparable to or better than most Immunotherapy options;

- Unique Ultra-personalised combination of drugs already approved for cancer;

- RESILIENT Protocol commercially launched

Datar Cancer Genetics, a cancer research company, today announced positive data from the phase II/III RESILIENT trial intended to validate clinical benefit for cancer patients who have run out of treatment options under the present standard of care guidelines. The study achieved its primary and secondary end points of Objective Response Rate, Progression Free Survival and Disease Control Rate respectively.

Drug resistant cancers present a serious clinical challenge since there are virtually no treatments available and the prognosis is invariably poor. As a large proportion of all patients with advanced cancers ultimately progress towards this phase, life extending treatment options for these patients are urgently required.

The RESILIENT Protocol is designed to analyse all functional layers of a cancer cell i.e., DNA, RNA, proteins and germline genetics as also the chemoresistance/sensitivity of live tumour cells. This data is integrated through an Artificial Intelligence algorithm to derive treatment regimens which are most efficacious and yet show the least risk of toxicity.

RESILIENT is the world's first and only prospective Precision Oncology trial where drug combinations were selected on multi-analyte integration. Most prior trials based on a single molecular alteration for drug selection had dismal outcomes. 143 patients started treatment and 126 patients were evaluable as per study criteria. All patients underwent PET-CT and Brain MRI scans prior to start of treatment to establish extent of disease. Treatment response was determined by follow-up PET-CT and MRI scans.

In the majority (90.5%) of patients, further spread of cancer was effectively halted. In 42.9% of patients, treatments also led to a significant decrease in the extent of cancer. Remarkably, among the 12 patients where disease progressed, no new metastases were reported in 9 patients. There were no serious treatment related adverse events or deaths. Most patients reported stable to improved quality of life.

The data of the RESILIENT Trial is published in the peer revived oncology journal 'Oncotarget' (https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.27188)

"The RESILIENT trial marks a watershed moment for molecular oncology as it unequivocally proves that patients who have failed even 2 to 3 lines of treatment can benefit from already approved drugs if comprehensive tumour analysis is used to guide treatments. Patients in the United Kingdom and all over the world have much to gain from the outcome of this trial," said Dr. Tim Crook, Medical Oncologist at the St. Luke's Cancer Centre, Royal Surrey County Hospital, Guildford, UK, who is one of the authors of the publication.

Datar is a leading cancer research corporation specialising in tumour analysis for better diagnosis, treatment decisions, and management of cancer. Datar's research initiatives are poised to bring about meaningful, patient-friendly and practice changing advancements in cancer treatment. Datar is also pursuing Adoptive Cell Immunotherapy for Multiple Solid Organ Cancers.

For more information please contact:

Dr. Vineet Datta - drvineetdatta@datarpgx.com

Dr Stefan Schuster - drstefanschuster@datarpgx.com

Datar Cancer Genetics info@datarpgx.org

Related Links

https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.27188

https://doi.org/10.1093/annonc/mdz268.061

Encyclopedic Tumor Analysis – Exacta

SOURCE Datar Cancer Genetics Ltd

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Datar Cancer Genetics Announces Positive Results With 42.9% Objective Response Rate, and 90.5% Disease Control Rate in Heavily Pre-treated Patients...

(WBAY) -

You may have heard the buzz surrounding "integrative medicine," but do you know what it means? Local doctor Lynn Wagner defines it as the bridge between traditional and alternative medicine. Dr. Wagner believes it can improve the physical and mental health of people who incorporate it into their own health care. Dr. Wagner is a BayCare Clinic M.D. and Urgent Care physician who has made integrative medicine part of the care she provides.

Dr. Lynn Wagner decided to pursue medicine when she was an undergrad at University of Minnesota. She went to medical school at the Medical College of Wisconsin and completed her residency in California. Dr. Wagner determined that she wanted to pursue emergency room medicine because she liked the variety and pace of providing treatment.

When Dr. Wagner personally dealt with post-partum depression after the birth of her daughter, she sought out other non-traditional healing methods. Practices like energy healing, meditation, yoga and changing her diet made her feel better. When Dr. Wagner realized it could do the same for her patients, her integrative medical practice grew.

Here I am working in the E.R., and I have these patients coming in, and they are on 10-15 different prescription medications. They are miserable, theyre in pain, theyre lonely, and no one is telling them there is a better way. So I had to do something else.

Dr. Wagner says prescription medications do have a place in her practice, but its also important to her to find out the cause a physical or mental ailment while they are treating the symptom.

In our Get 2 the Point podcast, hear more from Dr. Lynn Wagner about the ways that integrative medicine is becoming part of traditional health care and learn more about integrative lifestyle medicine at BayCare Clinic at http://www.lynnkwagner.com.

Listen on your favorite podcast apps and sites:

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Get 2 the Point: Integrative Medicine - WBAY

Millennials are experiencing more psychological symptoms and mental distress than people of their age group ever have before. Of course, there are a variety of factors involved. Were living through an era of economic difficulty, as well as the meteoric rise of social media (the use of which has been linked to both anxiety and depression). Unsurprisingly, the number of people visiting psychiatrists has also risen steeply, to the point where, as a nation, were now experiencing a shortage of psychiatrists.

And regardless of why people are more mentally ill (or if, as some might argue), we also know this: were no closer to curing depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, or any other widely-diagnosed psychiatric problem than we were half-a-century ago. This is despite a massive increase in the number of psychiatric visits and medicines prescribed.

The fundamental problem

If the practice of psychiatry is more prevalent than ever and there are more patients than ever to work with, why arent we seeing better results? The answer is simple, if concerning. The fact is, the current model of psychiatry from the way its thought about to the way its practiced doesnt address the root causes of psychological problems. In fact, a recent study out of the University of Liverpool asserts that psychiatric diagnoses are scientifically meaningless, and frequently unhelpful to the patient.

The authors conclusions were based partially on the fact that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illnesses (aka the DSM) barely mentions trauma as a factor in illnesses like depression and anxiety, when a growing body of research has highlighted trauma as a major factor. The overall problem is that current scientific knowledge simply doesnt explain mental illness as we know it, and mainstream treatments for psychological issues frequently fail to lead to significant positive changes in patients lives.

Integrative medicine joins the fray

There seems to be a link between the biomedical model upon which psychiatry is based, and its failure to alleviate mental distress. This is in large part due to the fact that most psychiatrists want to apply quick fixes in the form of psychotropic drugs, which in the best case treat symptoms, not causes.

Integrative medicine takes the opposite approach. An integrative practitioner doesnt assume your psychological distress is the result of nothing but a chemical imbalance he or she wants to find out what is causing that imbalance, whether its related to past trauma, chronic untreated disease, poor diet, or something else.

Treatments recommended by integrative practitioners are also healthy for your body, not harmful (unlike many psychiatric medications). Theyre likely to have a positive impact much sooner, and dont carry the risk of withdrawal syndromes. Most importantly, integrative practitioners take into account the big picture of your health, lifestyle, and current circumstances. Its often said, tellingly, that integrative medicine treats the person, not the disease.

Healthcare providers are getting on board with recommending complementary and alternative treatments, as a growing number of them see the current state of psychiatry as unacceptable. Both inside and outside the medical community, were seeing a grassroots movement that is concerned with our current mental healthcare crisis, and demanding change. Thats good for integrative practitioners, but even better for patients. The sooner we stop pretending that slapping a scientific-sounding name on our psychological problems will lead to a cure, the sooner we can figure out how to actually treat them.

Photo: Shutterstock

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Integrative Medicine Is Achieving What Psychiatry Can't-Here's How - The Good Men Project

Dear Dr. Fox: My 3-year-old spayed female Boston terrier constantly licks and scratches. She has been on Apoquel for the last three years, which does not help.

Is there anything that can help her? I have tried different brands of dog food, but theres been no improvement. Would holistic treatment help?

I also think she has psychological issues, and that may be part of her problem. It also seems that she does not sleep a lot, even during the night, as she is constantly moving and licking. B.K., Barnegat, New Jersey

Dear B.K.: I would taper off the Apoquel, which is being widely prescribed for dogs, often with no benefit and sometimes with harmful consequences of suppressing the immune system.

Considering the breed, your dog could need surgery for an upper-respiratory obstruction related to having a pushed-in face, which can interfere with sleep and limit physical activity. Such dogs often need their nasal orifices enlarged. Difficulty breathing can cause restlessness and anxiety, can lead to secondary infections such as pneumonia, and also puts extra work on the heart. With reduced physical activity, obesity is another complication.

I am sending you my home-prepared dog food recipe (drfoxonehealth.com), which will help rule out any possible food allergy. In addition, I would give her 1,000 IUs of vitamin D3 with each meal (three small meals a day). This supplement helps in some cases of atopic dermatitis in dogs for whom Apoquel has been prescribed.

Remember to weigh your dog before starting on a new diet, and then weigh her every three to four weeks to help maintain optimal weight.

Limiting access to alternative medicines: As a member of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association, I have been a longtime advocate of integrative medicine and a holistic approach to animal health, including the use of nutraceuticals and various botanicals. But I am concerned about reports that access to websites on these subjects as they relate to human health is now being blocked by Google, which has just contracted with the Mayo Clinic to improve diagnoses, treatment and outcomes by mining the medical records of people ... (Star Tribune, Editorials, Sept. 16).

Several years ago, when I gave a lecture at the University of Minnesota in Rochester the hometown of the Mayo Clinic I was told by the graduate student organizer that the university bookstore and the main bookstore downtown had both been instructed by the powers that be not to stock my controversial books on industrial agriculture and related environmental and consumer health concerns. Now, it would seem, there is further censorship that is proceeding at an unprecedented pace to further vested interests in conventional medicine, rather than advance the first medicine of prevention, and also the use of alternative treatments to various pharmaceutical products that are often costly and have harmful side effects.

For details, see naturalnews.com and healthnutnews.com. The latter reports that popular websites like Mercola and GreenMedInfo have lost significant visibility over the year studied (Mercola -84.02%, GreenMedInfo -81.14%), while the Mayo Clinic showed a 59.98% increase in visibility.

Backyard chickens? Please think twice: Keeping your own chickens may be popular these days, but it is far from harmless. More than 1,000 cases of salmonellosis from backyard poultry had been reported in 49 states this year as of Aug. 23, resulting in two deaths and 175 hospitalizations, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A CDC survey of patients found 49% of those infected had snuggled chicks, 46% allowed the birds in their house and 10% allowed them in their bedroom. (CNN, Sept. 14)

My advice is to resist being drawn into this trendy hobby, and keep children away from such backyard operations. If you do eat eggs, do your best to find those from free-range, uncaged hens fed organically certified food. If you saw how commercial layers are housed, you would never eat another egg.

Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

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Animal Doctor: Boston terriers are one breed with breathing problems - Tulsa World

Cancer care is expensiveboth in financial costs for the healthcare system and quality of life costs to the patient. Palliative care can help, but is sometimes misunderstood.

Arif Kamal, MD, MBA, MHS, FASCO, associate professor of medicine, population health sciences and business administration at Duke University, co-authored a paper outlining how palliative care can help improve the value of solid tumors cancers like lung cancer. He says while payers are generally on board with supporting palliative care, there are still a lot of misconceptions.

Palliative care is not synonymous with end of life care. Often, end-of-life care is seen as the responsibility of hospice, which is not necessarily under the purview of a hospital system or commercial payer, Kamal says. Palliative care and hospice are distinct but related. Palliative care should be part of routine operations.

There is a growing evidence base to support palliative care and integrative medicine in oncology. Both focus on the patient experience during the end of cancer care, and the paper highlights how these services relate to quality of life, healthcare utilization, and more in patients with lung cancer. Palliative care can bring patient-centered and financial value to oncology patients, Kamals paper notes, so much so that dedicated attention to palliative and supportive care of lung cancer patients is now a standard of care in national and international guidelines.

Sometimes viewed in error as end-of-life care by patients and even some physicians, palliative care focuses on patient- and family-oriented care that optimizes quality of life issues.

Palliative care has routinely proven its benefits to health systems and commercial payers, Kamal says. Since 2011, he says research has consistently demonstrated avoidance of low-value healthcare costs often associated with advanced illness. Under palliative care, patients can choose to avoid healthcare measures they consider low value to their overall healthcare goals.

While palliative care doesnt generate revenue, Kamal says, there are significant cost benefits through cost avoidance in the form of lower out-of-pocket costs for patients, lower payments for payers, and lower unreimbursed costs for hospitals.

Hospitals will consistently see improvements around patient experience, Kamal adds. Patient experience scores go up, 30-day readmission rates go down by a third, and the total cost of careespecially unreimbursed caregoes down.

Related: Top 6 Cancer Drug Trend

In one example from the paper, Kamal and his co-authors share the results from a home-based palliative care trial that enrolled 500 patients and showed a 45% decrease in costs compared to standard care. Patients were happier, had less emergency department visits, hospital stays, skilled nursing facility stays, and physician visitsall thanks to the extra layer of support from palliative care. When extending these benefits as a population health strategy, the paper estimates that the reduction in Medicaid spending in New York state alone could be as much as $252 million per year.

Oncology will always remain one of the most resource-intensive medical disciplines, Kamal writes in the paper. Caring for those with substantial morbidity, using methods that are often costly because of their cutting-edge characteristics, while using a multidisciplinary team to address needs from all angles comes at a cost. Yet, we are learning that routine integration of palliative care into oncology care can curb costs that are unnecessary and can prevent health care utilization that is not wanted, all while supporting patient preferences and values.

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The Immeasurable Benefits of Palliative Cancer Care - Managed Healthcare Executive

MORGANTOWN West Virginia Universitys Schools of Medicine and Dentistry and the WVU Medicine Center for Integrative Pain Managements efforts to improve military pain medicine care for soldiers in the field have been recognized by a national award for excellence in military pain medicine. This is the first time the award was given to an institution rather than an individual.

Ret. Col. Dr. Chester Trip Buckenmaier III, director of the Defense and Veterans Center for Integrative Pain Management, presented the Congressman John P. Murtha Memorial Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Military Pain Medicine at the WVU Medicine Center for Integrative Pain Management Conference held Sept. 20 at the Erickson Alumni Center in Morgantown.

This unique collaboration between WVU and the Uniformed Services University is an example of how multiple entities can share information and work together to develop better methods of treating pain amid a national opioid epidemic, said Dr. William Ramsey, associate vice president for coordination and logistics at WVU Health Sciences.

The partnership between the Uniformed Services University a health sciences university of the United States federal government that prepares graduates for service as medical professionals, nurses and physicians and West Virginia University in the area of integrated pain management resulted in the formation of the WVU Medicine Center for Integrative Pain Management as well as research in the School of Dentistry to explore non-pharmacological therapies in the treatment of pain.

We are humbled and honored to be a recipient of this award from our colleagues at DVCIPM, and are grateful that we have become a part of the many efforts in addressing pain management and substance use disorder, one of the most important medical issues of our times, WVU School of Dentistry Dean Anthony Borgia said.

It has been a privilege to collaborate with DVCIPM over the past two years, said Dr. Richard Vaglienti, clinical director of the WVU Medicine Center for Integrative Pain Management. Receiving the John P. Murtha award is a great honor and encouragement that we are having an impact in pain treatment beyond our state borders and for the men and women who voluntarily serve to protect us.

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WVU Medicine, WVU Schools of Medicine and Dentistry receive national award for excellence in military pain medicine - WV News