StemCell Therapy

Ah, summer vacation. The time of year when high school students laze on the beach, sleep in and stay up late binge watching their favorite TV shows.

But Greenwood native Emelee Guest is doing none of that. Her days have been occupied looking for mutations on Cullin-4B, a gene that has been linked to intellectual disabilities.

Ive been working with gene CUL4B and basically studying mutation E900X, which is basically a truncating mutation and Ive been studying the effects that a treatment called G-418 has on the mutation, is how the 17-year-old describes her work.

An incoming senior at the Governors School for Science and Mathematics in Hartsville, the 17-year-old is taking part in an intensive six-week research experience at the Greenwood Genetic Center under the guidance of Dr. Anand Srivastava, associate director for the facilitys Center for Molecular Studies.

Guest, who spent her freshman and sophomore years at Greenwood High School, said she was drawn to the field of genetics because she has relatives living with cystic fibrosis and epilepsy.

Part of my motivation is to help them. Ive watched them grow up with them, Guest said.

Guest is in elite company. Just one of 12 specialized, residential high schools in the country, the Governors School for Science and Mathematics which has an acceptance process offers more than 50 STEM classes with college and graduate-level opportunities and AP classes that enable students to earn multiple credits before starting their high education careers.

At my old school, we would sit there and learn, but there would be no application of it and there, we have labs once a week and they have more biology electives, Guest said. People say, get there, get anywhere, and its the hardest two years of your life.

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Srivastava, whos taken summer interns from the Governors School for more than 10 years, said the arrangement is mutually beneficial for research institutions like the Genetic Center, which gets access to the next generation of scientists while providing real-world experience for students.

They are very committed, they desire to learn because they have some goals, Srivastava said. We try to design a project that is part of some ongoing project and they get to work with somebody in my lab, which allows them to learn and become independent.

Guest, who is undecided between pursuing a career in genetics and ecology, said the practical skills of working at summer internship in a high pressure laboratory setting are impactful.

I dont think I could have guessed what it was going to be like, just because I havent a lot of experience just some little things in class and its nothing like the real thing, she said. Its a little stressful sometimes because its a lot of small things that have to correctly but once you get used to it, its really exciting.

Contact staff writer Adam Benson at 864-943-5650 or on Twitter @ABensonIJ.

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Greenwood native doing high-level genetics work in hometown - Index-Journal

Written by AZoNanoJul 10 2017

The Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT will soon be reaching the first anniversary of the launch of the Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine, founded through a generous gift from Kathy and Curt Marble 63.

The Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicines faculty is made up of Koch Institute members who are committed to fighting cancer with nanomedicine through research, education, and collaboration. Top row (l-r) Sangeeta Bhatia, director; Daniel Anderson; and Angela Belcher. Bottom row: Paula Hammond; Darrell Irvine; and Robert Langer. (Photo: Koch Institute Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine)

Bringing together leading Koch Institute faculty members and their teams, the Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine focuses on huge challenges in cancer detection, treatment and monitoring that can profit from the latest physics and biology of the nanoscale.

These challenges include spotting cancer earlier than present techniques allow, harnessing the immune system to combat cancer even as it progresses, using therapeutic insights from cancer biology to design therapies for formerly undruggable targets, integrating current drugs for synergistic action, and developing tools for more accurate diagnosis and improved surgical intervention.

Koch Institute member Sangeeta N. Bhatia, the John J. and Dorothy Wilson, Professor of Health Sciences and Technology and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, serves as the Inaugural Director of the center.

A major goal for research at the Marble Center is to leverage the collaborative culture at the Koch Institute to use nanotechnology to improve cancer diagnosis and care in patients around the world.

Sangeeta N. Bhatia, Koch Institute Member

Transforming nanomedicine

The Marble Center joins MITs larger efforts at the forefront of discovery and advancement to solve the critical global challenge that is cancer. The concept of convergence the combination of the life and physical sciences with engineering is a trademark of MIT, the founding principle of the Koch Institute, and at the heart of the Marble Centers mission.

The center galvanizes the MIT cancer research community in efforts to use nanomedicine as a translational platform for cancer care. Its transformative by applying these emerging technologies to push the boundaries of cancer detection, treatment, and monitoring and translational by promoting their development and application in the clinic.

Tyler Jacks, Director of the Koch Institute and a David H. Koch Professor of Biology

The centers faculty six renowned MIT Professors and Koch Institute Members are committed to combating cancer with nanomedicine through research, education and partnership. They are, Sangeeta Bhatia (director), the John J. and Dorothy Wilson Professor of Health Sciences and Technology and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Daniel G. Anderson, the Samuel A. Goldblith Professor of Applied Biology in the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science; Angela M. Belcher, the James Mason Crafts Professor in the departments of Biological Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering; Paula T. Hammond, the David H. Koch Professor of Engineering and head of the Department of Chemical Engineering; Darrell J. Irvine, Professor in the departments of Biological Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering; and Robert S. Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor.

Extending their partnership within the walls of the Institute, members of the Marble Center profit greatly from the support of the Peterson (1957) Nanotechnology Materials Core Facility in the Koch Institutes Robert A. Swanson (1969) Biotechnology Center. The Peterson Facilitys array of technological resources and know-how is unparalleled in the United States, and gives members of the center and of the Koch Institute, a distinctive advantage in the development and application of materials and technologies at the nanoscale.

Looking ahead

The Marble Center made the most of its first year, and has provided backing for advanced research projects including theranostic nanoparticles that can both detect and treat cancers, real-time imaging of interactions between cancer and immune cells to properly understand reaction to cancer immunotherapies, and delivery technologies for a number of powerful RNA-based therapeutics capable of engaging specific cancer targets with precision.

As part of its efforts to help adopt a multifaceted science and engineering research force, the center has offered fellowship support for trainees as well as valuable opportunities for scientific exchange, mentorship and professional development.

Promoting wider engagement, the Marble Center serves as a bridge to a broad network of nanomedicine resources, linking its members to MIT.nano, other Nanotechnology Researchers, and Clinical Partners across Boston and beyond. The center has also set up a scientific advisory board, whose members come from leading clinical and academic centers around the country, and will assist in shaping the centers future programs and continued development.

As the Marble Center enters another year of partnerships and innovation, there is a new landmark in sight for 2018. Nanomedicine has been chosen as the main theme for the Koch Institutes 17th Annual Cancer Research Symposium. The event is scheduled for June 15th, 2018, and will bring together national domain experts, providing a perfect forum for Marble Center members to share the discoveries and progresses made during its sophomore year.

Having next years KI Annual Symposium dedicated to nanomedicine will be a wonderful way to further expose the cancer research community to the power of doing science at the nanoscale. The interdisciplinary approach has the power to accelerate new ideas at this exciting interface of nanotechnology and medicine.

Sangeeta N. Bhatia, Koch Institute Member

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Koch Institute's Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine Brings Together Renowned Faculty to Combat Cancer - AZoNano

This summer, the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT marks the first anniversary of the launch of the Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine, established through a generous gift from Kathy and Curt Marble 63.

Bringing together leading Koch Institute faculty members and their teams, the Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine focuses on grand challenges in cancer detection, treatment, and monitoring that can benefit from the emerging biology and physics of the nanoscale.

These challenges include detecting cancer earlier than existing methods allow, harnessing the immune system to fight cancer even as it evolves, using therapeutic insights from cancer biology to design therapies for previously undruggable targets, combining existing drugs for synergistic action, and creating tools for more accurate diagnosis and better surgical intervention.

Koch Institute member Sangeeta N. Bhatia, the John J. and Dorothy Wilson Professor of Health Sciences and Technology and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, serves as the inaugural director for the center.

A major goal for research at the Marble Center is to leverage the collaborative culture at the Koch Institute to use nanotechnology to improve cancer diagnosis and care in patients around the world, Bhatia says.

Transforming nanomedicine

The Marble Center joins MITs broader efforts at the forefront of discovery and innovation to solve the urgent global challenge that is cancer. The concept of convergence the blending of the life and physical sciences with engineering is a hallmark of MIT, the founding principle of the Koch Institute, and at the heart of the Marble Centers mission.

The center galvanizes the MIT cancer research community in efforts to use nanomedicine as a translational platform for cancer care, says Tyler Jacks, director of the Koch Institute and a David H. Koch Professor of Biology. Its transformative by applying these emerging technologies to push the boundaries of cancer detection, treatment, and monitoring and translational by promoting their development and application in the clinic.

The centers faculty six prominent MIT professors and Koch Institute members are committed to fighting cancer with nanomedicine through research, education, and collaboration. They are:

Sangeeta Bhatia (director), the John J. and Dorothy Wilson Professor of Health Sciences and Technology and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science;

Daniel G. Anderson, the Samuel A. Goldblith Professor of Applied Biology in the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science;

Angela M. Belcher, the James Mason Crafts Professor in the departments of Biological Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering;

Paula T. Hammond, the David H. Koch Professor of Engineering and head of the Department of Chemical Engineering;

Darrell J. Irvine, professor in the departments of Biological Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering; and

Robert S. Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor.

Extending their collaboration within the walls of the Institute, Marble Center members benefit greatly from the support of the Peterson (1957) Nanotechnology Materials Core Facility in the Koch Institutes Robert A. Swanson (1969) Biotechnology Center. The Peterson Facilitys array of technological resources and expertise is unmatched in the United States, and gives members of the center, and of the Koch Institute, a distinct advantage in the development and application of nanoscale materials and technologies.

Looking ahead

The Marble Center has wasted no time getting up to speed in its first year, and has provided support for innovative research projects including theranostic nanoparticles that can both detect and treat cancers, real-time imaging of interactions between cancer and immune cells to better understand response to cancer immunotherapies, and delivery technologies for several powerful RNA-based therapeutics able to engage specific cancer targets with precision.

As part of its efforts to help foster a multifaceted science and engineering research force, the center has provided fellowship support for trainees as well as valuable opportunities for mentorship, scientific exchange, and professional development.

Promotingbroader engagement, the Marble Center serves as a bridge to a wide network of nanomedicine resources, connecting its members to MIT.nano, other nanotechnology researchers, and clinical collaborators across Boston and beyond. The center has also convened a scientific advisory board, whose members hail from leading academic and clinical centers around the country, and will help shape the centers future programs and continued expansion.

As the Marble Center begins another year of collaborations and innovation, there is a new milestone in sight for 2018.Nanomedicine has been selected as the central theme for the Koch Institutes 17th Annual Cancer Research Symposium. Scheduled for June 15, 2018, the event will bring together national leaders in the field, providing an ideal forum for Marble Center members to share the discoveries and advancements made during its sophomore year.

Having next years KI Annual Symposium dedicated to nanomedicine will be a wonderful way to further expose the cancer research community to the power of doing science at the nanoscale, Bhatia says. The interdisciplinary approach has the power to accelerate new ideas at this exciting interface of nanotechnology and medicine.

To learn more about the people and projects of the Koch Institute Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine, visit nanomedicine.mit.edu.

Continue reading here:
Converging on cancer at the nanoscale | MIT News - The MIT Tech

The department wanted nanotechnology to benefit the poor, so it directed funding towards pro-poor initiatives by prioritising research into diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis (TB). However, many less prominent diseases received proportionately more attention. In an unpublished report by the Mapungubwe Institute, researchers found that Parkinsons disease accounts for 2% of nanomedicine research, but is only 0.04% of South African disability-adjusted life years. In addition to Parkinsons, South African scholars study malaria, hepatitis B and Alzheimers in greater proportion than their disability-adjusted life years.

On the other hand, HIV/AIDS is severely understudied. HIV/AIDS accounts for 40% of SAs disability-adjusted life years but represents only 4% of South African nanomedicine research. The gross mismatch between R&D and the needs of South Africans shows that the interests of researchers can be at odds with the needs of the community.

We believe this mismatch is the symptom of global trends in medical R&D and the challenging economics of developing medicines that help the poor. Pharmaceutical companies have little desire to research diseases such as malaria, TB and HIV/AIDS because it will be difficult for them to recoup their R&D costs from medicine sales. In contrast, there is a robust market for cancer and Parkinsons disease medicines and they are, therefore, willing to invest in R&D in these fields.

As a consequence, well-targeted state intervention is needed to encourage R&D on diseases that do not have a market.

In a provocative book titled The Entrepreneurial State, Mariana Mazzucato provides examples of cases in which the state has inevitably been a lead investor and risk-taker in capitalist economies through "mission-oriented" investments and policies.

They include key technologies such as the internet, nanotechnologies, microbiology and drug discovery technologies, where the state played a leading role in achieving the necessary technological breakthroughs.

The state can risk funding initial R&D in areas that have no clear market but that push the bounds of science. An outstanding example is the iPhone all the key technologies behind it, such as the touchscreen, the internet and microprocessors, were funded by the state. The Obama administration also provided a direct $465m loan to Tesla Motors to build its model S.

The state should undertake risky investment to find solutions for its critical medicine research and drug discovery. The focus of private pharma is to focus on less innovative drugs, and private venture capitalists enter only once the real risk has been absorbed by the state.

Bill Gates said the key element to getting a breakthrough is more basic research, and that requires the government to take the lead. Only when that research is pointing towards a product, can we expect the private sector to kick in.

The government should play a leading role as an "entrepreneurial" investor and reap some of the financial rewards over time by retaining ownership of a small proportion of the intellectual property created.

Rather than succumb to its preassigned role as a "market fixer", the governments role should include resource mobilisation and setting the conditions for widespread market commercialisation.

It is time for SA to ask: what is it that the public and private sectors can do together to tackle the dire healthcare situation?

There is a great need for science and politics to combine efforts. A diverse set of governance actors, programmes, instruments and influences are needed by each form of new technology.

These recommendations will not immediately solve all of SAs health problems, but would put the country in a better position to improve its health-innovation system and the wellbeing of its people.

Woodson is assistant professor at Stony Brook University and Perrot is an independent researcher.

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State can cure skewed disease research - BusinessLIVE - Business Day (registration)

Priorities soon may change, because new research published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology finds that common household dust can cause fat cells to accumulate more triglycerides, or fat.

The problematic components are endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). These are synthetic or naturally occurring compounds that can interfere with, or mimic, a persons hormones. Since they are in products like frequently used flame retardants, dust from EDCs tends to be prevalent.

It is not clear at this time which items contribute most to EDC concentrations measured indust, senior author Heather Stapleton of Duke University said. The use of many of these chemicals is considered Confidential Business Information (CBI) and is often not disclosed to the public.

What we do know, she added, is that furniture, insulation, electronics, and other building components contain these chemicals, and are likely sources for thedust.

RELATED:Household Dust Packed With Thousands of Microbes

Stapleton, lead author Christopher Kassotis, and co-author Kate Hoffman made the dust-fat connection after analyzing samples of indoor dust from 11 homes in North Carolina. Extracts from seven of the eleven samples triggered the accumulation of triglycerides, a type of fat, in a lab dish. Extracts from nine samples did even more. They spurred the cells to divide, resulting in a larger amount of precursor fat cells.

Among the forty-four individual common house dust contaminants tested chemicals such as phthalates, parabens, pesticides, and phenolics three exhibited the strongest fat-producing effects. They were the pesticide pyraclostrobin, the flame retardant TBPDP, and the commonly used plasticizer DBP.

Prior research on animals suggests that early life exposure to some EDCs can cause weight gain later in life. Some scientists even refer to these ubiquitous chemicals now as obesogens.

Stapleton and other researchers believe that EDCs may interact with fetus stem cells and other developing tissues, causing them to develop in a different way than what would normally occur.

For example, she said, an EDC might change the way an adipocyte (fat cell) functions in adulthood. This might make it easier for these cells to accumulate lipids and lead to greater weight gain in one individual with high exposure during perinatal periods, compared to someone that was not exposed during the perinatal period. However, more research is really needed to understand these long-term effects.

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Common Household Dust Might Be Causing People to Gain Weight - Seeker

Fillers those line plumping and wrinkle-reducing injections (usually of hyaluronic acid) have gotten increasingly popular over the past several years. The quick, in-office procedure can deliver addictively good results without all the scariness that comes with full-blown cosmetic surgeries. But thats not to say fillers dont have serious risks... like blindness, apparently.

A recent study published in the Journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, looked at nine patients in South Korea who experienced blindness from fillers after receiving facial injections of hyaluronic acid.

One of the rare risks of having filler injections performed is that the filler material itself can get into and block a blood vessel, Joshua Zeichner, M.D., director of cosmetic and clinical research in dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, tells Allure. If that happens, the results can be devastating.Here's what goes down: The blockage can prevent the delivery of oxygen and other nutrients, which could have major consequences. If the skin is affected, scarring can develop. If the eyes are affected, it can result in blindness, Zeichner adds.

Naturally, the case study is scary enough to make you rethink booking that filler appointment. But before you totally freak out, heres what you need to know about the real risks concerning blindness from fillers.

First of all, this is super rare. For all the procedures involving fillers (about 2.6 million people got the needle last year alone, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons), theres only been a handful of reported cases of blindness. In the event that after a filler injection, you experience any significant, sharp pain, if the skin develops a purple, lacy, or dusky appearance make sure to call your doctor immediately, Zeichner says. Hyaluronic acid fillers can be dissolved, so if theres an issue, the faster you can do that, the better your chances of avoiding a serious outcome.

Secondly, where you get the filler matters. Certain areas are more at risk than others, Sejal Shah, M.D., a board-certified dermatologist in New York, tells Allure. The highest risk areas are the area between the eyebrows, the nose, and the nasal region. In those areas, neurotoxin injections (aka Botox or Dysport) might be the safer choice, adds Zeichner.

Finally, technique is key, so make sure you see someone who knows their stuff. Many of us do not inject fillers in high-risk areas and actually pull back on the plunger of the syringe before injecting to make sure that the needle is not placed within a blood vessel, Zeichner says. To ensure youre getting the best care, "make sure you are seeing a well-trained, board-certified dermatologist or plastic surgeon, who is thoroughly educated in facial anatomy and techniques for injecting different types of fillers, adds Shah. These experts will also be able to deal with any adverse effects ASAP.

The bottom line? Every medical procedure including the seemingly innocuous facial perk up you can get with a quick injection has risks. So make sure you know what they are going in. Before resorting to the needle, talk to your dermatologist about any weird side effects you might be at risk for and inject accordingly.

For more on fillers:

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Great, Well Apparently Facial Fillers Can Make You Go Blind - Allure Magazine

With only a 48-hour window of opportunity, how do you keep a child from going blind when there is a lack of eye surgeons with proper training? Thats where telemedicine technology and eye specialists come together.

Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is the largest pediatric multispecialty medical group in the United States. Children from around the world can receive specialized care from 564 physicians in any of 32 specialties and 31 other areas of complex conditions.

Recently, one group within Childrens Hospital Los Angeles looked at the rate of infant blindness in Armenia which was three times the rate of the U.S. and other Western countries and asked, How can we help? How could the medical group eliminate preventable blindness in Armenia and neighboring rural areas? And how could the medical group educate doctors in third-world countries about complex blinding diseases in a cost-effective manner without compromising care?

[Also:VA, Air Force forge telehealth partnership for critically ill patients]

Thomas Lee, MD, joined the Armenia EyeCare Project at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. He and a team of doctors traveled to Armenia to provide assessment, care and programming, and the need to train remote care teams became clear: There were not enough surgeons available with the specialized knowledge required to provide life-changing eye surgeries.

Another critical issue was that some of these sight-saving surgeries for premature infants with certain retinal conditions must take place within 48 hours of birth. The lack of trained surgeons meant many infants might miss their opportunity.

[Also:eClinicalWorks adds telehealth feature to mobile app]

So SADA Systems, a Microsoft partner, built a telemedicine system using Microsoft technology especially for Lee to reach out from L.A. to Armenia to stop infants from going blind.

Skype for Business along with a Polycom codec allowed us to be present virtually during the operation, Lee said. One of the primary obstacles to training surgeons in developing countries is the difficulty in getting the expertise to the trainee to properly supervise them during their actual operations. Historically this has required the expert to travel to the remote country and then assist the doctor directly.

These medical missions are very time-consuming, and unfortunately often need to be arranged months in advance, a period of time many patients do not have, Lee said.

By having a remote platform available, we were able to provide the supervision needed in a timely fashion for the patient without requiring the expert to disrupt their own practice, he explained.

Various elements of the telemedicine technology enabled Lee and team members to succeed at this medical procedure.

Historically, we have been limited in how the video signal is transmitted and brokered, Lee said. Encoding and compressing the signal has often relied on software compression performed in the OR before being placed on the wire. This results in compression and motion artifacts that cause signal degradation making it unusable from a medical standpoint.

Some of the more affordable hardware systems resulted in latency of up to 60 seconds as the streaming system would buffer the video before broadcasting to the remote expert, Lee explained. A dedicated hardware codec at both ends would solve this issue but required the remote expert to be at the hospital where the codec is present, and since Armenia was 12 time zones away, this posed a specific challenge, he added.

What was unique and novel about this solution was that SADA Systems reconfigured a Polycom codec to log directly on to Microsoft Skype for Business, he explained. The hardware compression resulted in a high-definition and high-frame-rate signal with none of the artifacts we had seen previously. Because this was being brokered by Skype for Business, the remote expert could simply log onto the video conference from home using a standard web browser.

What was even more important was that the signal could be multicast to multiple experts around the world. This was a fundamental change.

Where historically we could only have one expert training a surgeon, either in person or remotely, Skype for Business allowed us to crowdsource the surgical training to experts all over the world, Lee said. This changes the rules of the game. Experience that would normally take a trainee months to acquire through different experts can now be addressed in one operation. This really alters how we can approach a global problem through a disruptive platform to benefit children all over the world.

So how important is telemedicine technology to the future of healthcare? Very, Lee said.

In healthcare today, we are facing a crisis not just in cost but more importantly in access, he said. Telemedicine will allow us to address both of these issues by allowing subspecialists to partner with other providers in an efficient manner that can both increase access and reduce costs. The challenge is how to complete the proof of concept and then roll out the larger platform.

Twitter:@SiwickiHealthITEmail the writer: bill.siwicki@himssmedia.com

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LA medical group uses telemedicine to fight child blindness in Armenia - Healthcare IT News

From the dawn of electronics, people have been tryingto merge electronics with our bodies in order to improve conditions thatcurrently have no cure andto go beyond our limits. The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is now ready to back that up with big bucks.

DARPA has announced it plans to spend $65 million to create a brain-computer interface, the core goal of the Neural Engineering System Design program. The program will last for four years and willfund six different research teams. These scientists will work on LEDs that can be used to restore vision, a system to understand speech, and a holographic microscope to detect neural activity.

While these are all part of an exciting plan, it is important to remember just how ambitious it is. Even if the technology developed is as successful as one might hope, it would take years to perform clinical tests to guarantee that the tech is safe and reliable. DARPA wants the team to create commercially viable applications, but there are many obstacles to overcome.

The general idea is to create different versions of the same basic technology, an interface that can translate the electrochemical signals into electronic impulses and vice versa. Only in such a manner would it be possible to control potential sensory devices.

The researchers will tryto create a brain implant thatis at most a cubic centimeter (about two nickels stuck back to back) in volume. The volume requirements are sensible but not groundbreaking. Previous studies have shown implants that are minimally invasive.

The chip will have to be able to connect and communicate withup to a million neurons, and while that sounds impressive, we need to remember that the average human has about 86 billion of them.

Still, a technology that can interface with our neural electrochemistry can have a huge impact, even if it only interacts with a (relatively) tiny fraction of neurons. The implant can help bridge nerve connections, which means it might help people that have lost limb function or have a spinal injury.

Obviously, this is early work, but it is promising that research groups are committed to a tech that might make life easier for millions of people.

See the article here:
DARPA Aims At Curing Blindness And Other Conditions With Bioelectronic Interface - IFLScience

When Maureen and Jay Neitz adopted an adorable, fluffy black puppy in the late 1980s, they had no idea how important she would be in making new discoveries about vision.

They were just looking for a dog who was size-appropriate for the small apartment they lived in as UC Santa Barbara PhD candidates. Eventually, the teacup Poodle they named Retina helped the couple prove that dogs see much more than just black and white, and that dogs color vision is similar to that of the 8 percent of the human population who are red-green colorblind.

Ten million Americans, most of them male, are affected with red-green colorblindness, a genetic trait carried on the X chromosome. People with this condition cant clearly see the difference between red and green. They often mistake green for white and red for brown or dark gray.

Colorblindness might not seem like a serious disability, but it causes unexpected, and sometimes tragic, problems for humans. For example, airline pilots must be able to differentiate between colors, which someone with red-green colorblindness cant reliably do. Color vision is, of course, crucial in being able to discern if a traffic light is red or green. According to Don Peters, a consultant to the biotech industry who has red/green colorblindness, Sodium vapor lights look a lot like red stoplights to me. Its confusing to drive in an area with these lights, especially at night. As a child, he had difficulties with color-related tasks: I can still hear my teacher asking me why I colored the tree red. I couldnt tell the difference.

Colorblind people miss a lot of detail that people with normal color vision take for granted: they might not see the lines on a map, or lettering printed in colors that seem bright to those with normal vision but blend in for them. This can be dangerous when reading traffic signs or medication labels. Jay Neitz pointed out that children who are colorblind often have trouble in school, and can be mistakenly diagnosed with learning disabilities or ADHD; in spite of these potential problems, schools do not test students color vision.

The Neitzes established that dogs see shades of yellow, blue and gray. Other colors, such as red and green, appear faded or indistinct. Jay Neitz had an aha moment when Retina could not find her orange ball in a green lawn. Sometimes the ball was right in front of her, but she would sniff around in the grass, trying to find it by smell. We realized that she simply couldnt see it, even though it was obvious to us, he said.

As UC Santa Barbara post-docs with degrees in biochemistry, molecular biology and biopsychology, the couple had access to a lab in which they could set up a testing area. I realized that I had the opportunity to find out, once and for all, what kind of color vision dogs really have. Jay built an apparatus that placed dogs in front of a screen with three lit panels. He trained the dogs to touch the screen with their noses when they saw a different shade. If the dog got it right, she would receive a cheese-flavored dog treat. In order to get the dog to touch the screen, Jay used peanut butter as an incentive. Once the dog mastered that part of the test, Jay no longer used the peanut butter.

Right away, Maureen and Jay discovered that, like people, dogs were good at figuring out shortcuts to getting a treat. In addition, About 30 percent of the time, the dog made a lucky guess, according to Maureen. The dogs attention spans were short, and on more than a few days, they just didnt feel like doing the tests. It took six months per dog to train them, Maureen said. In addition to Retina, the Neitzes used two Italian Greyhounds; like Poodles, they are small, intelligent, easily trained dogs. The dogs were treated very well, Maureen said. We had the utmost concern for their welfare.

In 1989, Jay Neitz co-authored Color vision in the dog, which was published in the journal Visual Neuroscience; the research paper confirmed that dogs do, indeed see more than black and white. That led to a years-long search for a cure for colorblindness in humans.

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How Dogs Are Helping Researchers Cure Color Blindness | The Bark - The Bark (blog)

A undle of microwires developed by startup Paradromic to interface directly with the brain. Image: Paradromic

These days, it seems youre nobody if youre not working on a way to merge machines with the human brain. Earlier this year, both Facebook and perpetual moonshot-enthusiast Elon Musk announced plans for brain-computer interfaces that could allow us to read the thoughts of others and improve our capacity for learning. Today, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced plans to spend $65 million developing advanced neural implants that connect our brains to computers in order to treat sensory deficits like blindness.

The Neural Engineering System Design program gives us a peek into what sort of achievements might actually be plausible using neural interfaces. The program will fund six different research teams, including two that seek to restore vision using light-emitting diodes, one that plans to decode speech using neurograin sensors, and another that uses holographic microscopes to detect neural activity that could eventually replace lost vision, or act as an interface to control an artificial limb.

At the end of the four-year program, the goal is to have working prototypes capable of transmitting data between the brain and computers, but it will likely be a good deal longer before such devices are ready or commercial or clinical application.

It will be a long time before medical science allows us to grow new eyes or repair a broken spinal cord, but by linking brains to computers it will be possible to leverage digital devices to restore the functionality of damaged body parts, said Matthew Angle, whose company, Paradromics, Inc., received a DARPA grant. Angles company is researching how to use large arrays of brain-penetrating microwire electrodes to record and stimulate neurons, with the goal of building an implantable device to support speech restoration. His company aims to be in clinical trials by 2021.

Initially we are focused on what we call connectivity disorders, meaning illnesses and injuries that destroy or severely impair a persons sensory or motor connections to the outside world, he told Gizmodo. Looking forward, I imagine that neural prosthetics could also be used to treat certain neurological diseases.

Its not DARPAs first foray into brain-computer interfaces. The agency has already invested heavily in brain-computer interface technologies to do things like treat mental illness and restore memories to soldiers injured in war. (Those projects are still ongoing, but so far on track to meet research goals.) But the goalsand the technologyhere are a little different. Rather than seeking to impact one small region of the brain in order to affect a particular outcome, like treating PTSD, the agency hopes to develop a technology to communicate with more than a million of the brains 86 billion neurons at once, translating the brains electrochemical signals into ones and zeros that can be interpreted by a machine.

Such a feat would have countless therapeutic applications, but also significantly expand our understand of vision, hearing, and speech and eventually, yes, maybe even allow us to communicate telepathically.

At UC Berkeley, for example, a research team led by Ehud Isacoff plans to develop a holographic microscope that uses fields of light to detect and modulate the activity of up to a million neurons in the cerebral cortex. The team hopes it can create models that predict how the brain will respond to visual and tactile stimuli, then translate those models into patterns that might convey vision or movement to someone who had lost one of those senses with a brain implant.

The technical goal is to create a brain modem that can read the activity of a million identified neurons and write back to large numbers of them patterns of activity that simulate natural ones, Isacoff told Gizmodo via email.

Using optical imaging, he said, may be more effective than techniques like deep brain stimulation that rely on implanted electrodes to stimulate areas of the brain around them, allowing to scientists to target extremely precise regions. Within four years, he said, they hope to have a device that works in animals.

We hope that our device makes it possible to unlock the neural code of sensory perception, he said. Success would enable us to generate the proper patterns to reflect what is happening in the world to enable a blind person to see or someone with a prosthetic arm to control it better because of restored sensory feedback.

At Columbia University, a team led by Ken Shepard plans to create a prosthetic restoring sight to those that are blind, by layering a single, flexible circuit over the brain that could communicate wirelessly with a transceiver worn on the head.

The goal of this research is to push the limits on what is possible with brain-machine interfacesproviding a means to interact with brain circuits on a scale that has not previously been achievable, Shepard told Gizmodo.

The challenges, though, are many. How to make such a device survive inside the body? How to process the data? How to map signals from the brain and understand how they impact the brains complex wiring?

DARPAs goal is that all of the teams will eventually create technology with practical, commercial applications.

Angle, of Paradromics, cautioned that this does not mean we will all be reading each others minds anytime soon. Even twenty years out, he suspects we will still be puzzling over how to use this kind of technology to help people with physical and psychological illnesses. In the nearer term, though, the focus will likely be on disorders rooted in the brains inability to communicate with the body, like blindness and paralysis.

There are already enough medical applications to keep many companies busy for many decades, he said. We see a concrete and credible technical pathway for the blind to see and for people who cannot move to walk again. This has been a human aspiration for as long as written history, and I think the tipping point will come in the next decade.

Original post:
DARPA Is Funding Brain-Computer Interfaces to Treat Blindness, Paralysis and Speech Disorders - Gizmodo

In rural Uganda, people who are blind or visually impaired often go to the city to look for work. But jobs are hard to find, and many end up as street beggars.

Instead, Ojok Simon wants them to know about a way they can earn money without leaving home: beekeeping. Simon, 36, became visually impaired after he was severely beaten by rebels who came to his village when he was a child. He has been a beekeeper for 15 years, and in 2013 he co-founded Hive Uganda, an organization that teaches advocates for visually impaired people and teaches them to make a living raising honeybees.

This year, his organization will receive a boost: Simon is one of three winners of the first-ever Holman Prize, which The Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired in San Francisco.

Its like a blind Fulbright, said Will Butler, the organizations communication director, of the award, which gives up to $25,000 apiece to blind and visually impaired people seeking funding for ambitious personal projects.

The prize is named for James Holman, a 19th-century English navy lieutenant who lost his sight at 25. In those days, if a military man became blind, the usual thing was theyd go sit in a convent or church and pray for the souls of dead English soldiers and sailors, said Bryan Bashin, The Lighthouses CEO.

Holman didnt think that sounded like fun. So, at a time with people didnt even think that blind people could get out of the house, he began to travel, and he became the most traveled blind person of the 19th century, eventually crossing through Scotland and France, and across Siberia, Bashin said.

Another winner of this years prize, Penny Melville-Brown of Farnham, U.K., lost her sight while she was a commander in the British Royal Navy. Her project, Baking Blind, will take her around the world to cook with blind and sighted chefs - including stops in China, Australia, Malawi, and Virginia Beach, Virginia, where she hope to link up with some Navy veterans, especially blind ones, to share stories.

Along the way she will videotape her encounters and blog about her journey. Her goal, she said, is to show that blind people and other disabled people have got lots of get up and go and ability, and they are a great resource for the rest of the community, the rest of society, and particularly employers, to use better.

Melville-Brown was thrilled to learn she had won (My thinking is its a cross between the Paralympics and The Apprentice, with a whiff of the Nobel! she wrote to the organizers in an excited email). But she also said the honor comes with a great responsibility. Because I am sort of representing lots of blind people, and especially those who were candidates for the prize. Im sort of doing it on their behalf.

A third winner, Ahmet Ustunel, a San Francisco teacher and avid kayaker, will develop a guidance system to solo kayak 500 miles in different locations around the world, including crossing the Bosphorus Strait from Europe to Asia in his native Turkey.

Two-hundred and two applicants from 27 countries and 35 U.S. states submitted 90-second video pitches for their projects.

We were staggered by the amount of interest and the quality and diversity of the proposals, Bashin said. One of the biggest obstacles is our own perceptions of our capabilities, and part of the Lighthouses mission is to change perceptions of the abilities of the blind in all fields.

Winners will be flown to San Francisco and work with the project manager to refine their ideas. A year later, they will return to report on how they turned out.

In the Gulu district of northern Uganda, Simons organization has already taught 38 people to be beekeepers, using local materials to make beehives and learning how to understand bees behavior.

Ugandans prize the insects for their honey, their wax (used in soap and cosmetics), their propolis, and even their venom, which can be used to boost immunity. But much of the harvesting is done in the wild, which presents a challenge for the visually impaired. Hive Uganda teaches people to use frames and assess the honey harvest by feeling how heavy they are.

Winning the Holman will allow Simon to widen the scope of how many people he can help.

I feel that now Im going to be addressing the larger society to empower East Africa in general, he told the Washington Post. My dream is becoming reality, and that change that I wanted, I started feeling at my fingertips.

Read the original here:
Beekeeper, baker, kayaker don't let blindness stop the vision - Atlanta Journal Constitution

Diabetes patients who are also suffering from obstructive sleep apnoea may be at greater risk of developing a common form of eye disease leading to blindness, researchers found.

The findings showed that the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy was higher in patients with sleep apnoea (42.9 per cent) compared to those without sleep apnoea (24.1 per cent) - that causes snoring and interrupting breathing.

Further, it was also more common in patients with both Type 2 diabetes and sleep apnoea compared to those with only high blood sugar levels alone. Despite improvements in glucose, blood pressure and lipid levels, diabetic retinopathy remains very common, said Abd Tahrani from the University of Birmingham.

Importantly, patients with sleep apnoea and Type 2 diabetes may also be at an increased risk of developing advanced diabetic retinopathy over a period of three years and seven months. These patients may also not be aware of the onset of diabetic retinopathy and the disease could go undiagnosed for years, the researchers said.

For the study, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the team involved 230 patients with Type 2 diabetes who were assessed for diabetic retinopathy using specialist retinal imaging, while sleep apnoea was assessed using a home-based multi-channel cardio-respiratory portable device.

At a follow-up appointment, on average 43 months later the patients with sleep apnoea (18.4 per cent) were more likely to develop moderate to severe diabetic retinopathy compared to those without sleep apnoea (6.1 per cent). We can conclude from this study that OSA is an independent predictor for the progression to moderate or severe diabetic retinopathy in patients with Type 2 diabetes, Tahrani said.

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Eye to eye: Diabetes, sleep apnoea combination may lead to blindness - Hindustan Times

Sightings of a toxic plant which has left several children in the UK with third-degree burns this summer have been confirmed in the Somerset area.

Giant Hogweed can cause ulcers and blindness and has been called Britains most dangerous plant by some.

LATEST - Warning from mum about another dangerous plant after son picks up injuries at beauty spot.

The recent hot weather raised fears about the spread of the hazardous plant , as it thrives in warmer temperatures.

Distressing images show what can happen to children if they accidentally come into contact with the dangerous invasive species. Several youngsters were hospitalised in late June around the UK.

WARNING: Some images below graphically show Giant Hogweed injuries.

Areas with lots of countryside, such as our beautiful county, should be particularly aware of the risks.

Giant Hogweed verified in Somerset

Now a new app called Plant Tracker is recording confirmed reports of Giant Hogweed on a map of the UK, allowing those concerned to steer clear of some potentially risky areas.

Worryingly there are several dots on the map showing Giant Hogweed is in Somerset and the surrounding area.

The Giant Hogweed spots in or near Somerset confirmed so far are in:

Mudford (just north of Yeovil ) An area to the south of Wincanton , near the River Cale Farleigh Hungerford (north of Frome , south of Bath) London Road West in Bath Riverside Park in Bristol Down Road, north of Bristol Bristol and Bath Science Park, Bristol Just off the A35, near Wilmington, between Axminster and Honiton

Children taken to hospital

In late June media reports highlighted how children in the UK were especially vulnerable to the dangers of the plant.

Several children were hospitalised with third-degree burns after their skin was exposed to a stem.

Lauren Fuller, 10, from Thornbury, was building a den by a riverbank in Scotland in 2015 when she touched the invasive plant.

The image belows show how her injuries quickly became extremely severe.

WARNING: The below image graphically shows Giant Hogweed injuries and some may find it distressing.

An 11-year-old boy in Renfrewshire, Scotland, was hospitalised after touching the toxic plant in the park. Victims suffer horrific burn-like injuries when they make contact with it.

The boy was left with agonising blisters after he rubbed the plants leaves on a nettle sting, thinking they were dock leaves.

In 2015, four Bolton teenagers were treated in hospital for severe burns after touching giant hogweed.

Within 24-48 hours, rashes, burns and blisters may begin to appear. The toxins affect almost everyone but children are particularly sensitive.

Blisters caused by Giant Hogweed tend to heal very slowly as they can damage DNA, and severe blistering may re-occur for many years.

The blisters can also develop into phytophotodermatitis, a type of skin rash caused as a result of sensitivity to chemicals in certain plants and fruit which flares up in sunlight.

The best advice is simply - do not touch it.

River Trust expert Mike Duddy said: "If you dont know what the plant is, its exceedingly dangerous.

It is, without a shadow of a doubt, the most dangerous plant in Britain."

Government advice on Giant Hogweed says:

Contact with any part of this plant must be avoided as even minute amounts of sap can cause blistering of the skin following exposure to sunlight.

Its best left to the experts but if youre trying to spot the dangerous plant so you can avoid it, this info could help.

The Non-Native Species Secretariat says: When in full height it is difficult to confuse giant hogweed with any other plant. While still growing or stunted, possibly as a result of disturbance, it can be confused with some other native plants. The most likely species with which it might confused is hogweed.

Key differences between hogweed and giant hogweed include the height, width of stem, size of leaf, size of flower head and size of seed.

The map of the Somerset area we used above came from PlantTracker.

Thanks to PlantTracker we can see recorded sightings of the Giant Hogweed but walkers should beware that it's in lots of other places, too. It's probably impossible to report them all.

The PlantTracker project is a collaboration between the Environment Agency, Scottish Natural Heritage, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency & Natural Resources Wales.

The main aim is to locate incidences of a number of high priority invasive plant species.

There is currently a lack of information on exactly how serious the problem presented by invasive plant species really is.

With the public's help PlantTracker hope to build the most complete picture yet and provide the raw data to those that need it most in (almost) real time.

Continued here:
Sightings of 'most dangerous plant' which can cause ulcers and ... - Somerset Live

Went in for eye surgery the other day, which reminded me of an old wheeze of a joke, which I told to people as they prepared the prisoner for execution: A man walked by the insane asylum and heard the inmates shouting, Twenty-one! Twenty-one! They sounded ecstatic and he stopped to have a look. He put his eye to a hole in the fence and they poked him in the eye with a sharp stick and yelled, Twenty-two! Twenty-two!

The sedation guy was busy and didnt laugh but the nurse did. She was an angel and how often do you get to meet one? She grew up on a farm in southwestern Minnesota, is the mother of two teenagers and a professional possessed of warmth and humor. She did the prep, slipped the IV in, ran through a battery of questions, and patted me on the shoulder about 27 times in the course of an hour. A lifelong reader/writer like me blanches at the thought of his eye being sliced while he observes up close. This womans ease and kindness changed everything. Every thing.

Of course the outcome depends on the ophthalmic surgeon, who is also a kind and caring woman, but by then I was sedated, mesmerized by bright lights. The procedure lasted an hour, and when I was back on my feet, a patch over the eye, woozy but ambulatory, I walked out into bright sunlight and into the world of the handicapped. It was not easy to figure out when to cross the street to my hotel. In the hotel hallway, I had to read room numbers up close, hoping nobody would suddenly open a door and find a tall man with an eyepatch peering at their peephole and call the police.

Back in the room, I hung up my jacket, opened my laptop and I couldnt see the keys that would increase font size to where I could read the text. I lay on the bed and contemplated the prospect of life as a man in a blur. I dozed. I turned on the TV. I couldnt watch it, only listen. I clicked around, hoping for a friendly voice, and everyone sounded hyped-up and weird, canned laughter, big carnival barker voices, big woofers and screaming meemies, and then I found a ballgame. Two men, talking nice and slow in level tones, describing actions taking place before their eyes. Players I didnt know playing games I didnt care about, but those were the voices of my uncles discussing cars, gardens, future construction projects, the secret of pouring concrete, and that was reassuring, to know that the country has not come unhinged.

Kindness and blindness, all in one day. Back to basics. I think kindness does not come naturally to men. We bark, we harrumph, but tenderness is a stretch for us. The grief-stricken mother lies in bed, keening, and her women friends take turns stroking her back, while the men sit stiffly in the next room, trying to make conversation.

Its a small thing, kindness, but when youre in the hands of a large institution with a bar code for identification, kindness feels like the key to civilization itself and the fulfillment of the word of the Lord. And the combination of kindness and the high-powered intellectual acuity of modern medical science is a miracle of our time. America is the land of second chances and thats what modern medicine has brought us.

I lay in the hotel room hearing my uncles discuss the price of feed corn and it occurred to me, not once but several times, that I am a fortunate man and thank you, Lord. Medicare A and B and a good group health policy and savings to cover any shortfall. The 23 million people who may lose their health insurance in the next few years if Congress does as the man wishes will face some high barriers between them and any sort of eye surgery. This does not come under the heading of Kindness.

Eighty percent of evangelical Christians who cast ballots last fall voted for the man, who seems as far from Christian virtues (humility, kindness, patience, etc.) as Hulk Hogan is from the Dalai Lama. These are people who pray for guidance. So apparently Jesus got the story wrong. The rich man came to Lazarus who was covered with sores and asked for a tax break and the rich man was rewarded and Lazarus went to hell. Do unto others as you are glad they dont have the means to do unto you.

Garrison Keillor is an author and radio personality.

2017, Garrison Keillor

Distributed by The Washington Post News Service with Bloomberg News.

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Garrison Keillor column: Blindness and kindness, all in one day ... - Richmond.com

In Japan, Fukurokuju () (from Japanese fuku, "happiness"; roku, "wealth"; and ju, "longevity") is one of the Seven Lucky Gods in Japanese mythology. It has been theorized that he is a Japanese assimilation of the Chinese Three Star Gods (Fulushou) embodied in one deity. Most related in appearance to the Chinese star god Shou, he is the God of wisdom and longevity. According to some, before attaining divinity, he was a Chinese hermit of the Song Dynasty and a reincarnation of the Taoist god Xuanwu. It is said that during his human incarnation, he was a sennin; a philosopher who could exist without eating food.

Fukurokuju probably originated from an old Chinese tale about a mythical Chinese Taoist hermit sage renowned for performing miracles in the Northern Song period (9601127). In China, this hermit (also known as Jurjin) was thought to embody the celestial powers of the south polar star. Fukurokuju was not always included in the earliest representations of the Seven in Japan. He was instead replaced by Kichijten (goddess of fortune, beauty, and merit). He is now, however, an established member of the Seven Lucky Gods.

He is sometimes confused with Jurjin, another of the Several Gods of Fortune, who by some accounts is Fukurokuju's grandson and by other accounts inhabits the same body as Fukurokuju.[1] As such, the two are often confused.[2]

Usually portrayed as bald with long whiskers, he is said to be an incarnation of the Southern Polestar. In many depictions, Fukurokuju has an abnormally high forehead. The sacred book tied to his staff either contains the lifespan of every person on earth or a magical scripture. He is accompanied by a crane and a turtle, which are considered to be symbols of longevity. He is also sometimes accompanied by a black deer (ancient legends say a deer turns black if it is over 2000 years old).

He is the only member of the Seven Lucky Gods credited with the ability to revive the dead.

See original here:
Fukurokuju - Wikipedia

Estimated reading time: 8 min

Ever feel as if motherhood literally sucked the life out of you? Well, theres some science to back that up. A recent study in the journalPLOS One reported that the more children a woman gave birth to, the faster she aged.

Poke around in the literature and you will find as many articles describing the protective effects of childbearing as those that suggest it is utterly depleting.

Thestudy, which looked at DNA in 100 postmenopausal women, found that those whod experienced more pregnancies and births had increased levels of oxidative damage an imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants that is an indication of accelerated cellular aging. The authors declared their findings the first evidence for oxidative stress as a possible cost of reproductive effort in humans.

But wait: Maybe having children revitalizes you, keeps you young. Because the week before that study was published, another had come out in the same journal showing that the more children a woman gave birth to, the more slowly she aged.

Thatstudy, on 94 women with an average age of about 40, found that over the course of 13 years, those who gave birth to more children had longer telomeres, the protective casings at the end of a DNA strand. Like a candle that burns down every time you light it, telomeres get shorter each time a cell divides. The authors suggest that elevated estrogen levels in pregnancy may protect DNA from the damaging effects of oxidative stress.

Individually, such studies make for irresistible headlines, but few news stories acknowledge the persistently contradictory nature of findings in this area. We want the answer to be simple, but it just isnt. Poke around in the literature and you will find as many articles describing the protective effects of childbearing as those that refer to it as utterly depleting.

How could having kids affect health and longevity in such disparate ways? Why cant we definitively say how pregnancy will affect any human body?

I dont think there is a simple answer, says Grazyna Jasienska, head of the Human Reproductive and Evolutionary Ecology group in Poland and a co-author of the study showing accelerated aging in mothers. Its interesting because its complicated.

Nearly 15 years ago, Jasienska established the Mogielica Human Ecology Study Site, which collects data on the inhabitants of five villages in the mountains of southern Poland. Its a rural population in which women still perform a lot of manual labor on small farms. She was attracted to the populations broad fertility rate: from zero to 16 children.

Were comparing women with five kids with women with 12 kids. This makes it possible to really look at the costs of reproduction, Jasienska says.

Life-history theory asserts that since the body has a finite amount of energy to work with, energy put toward reproduction is energy not spent on self-maintenance. Its maternal martyrdom at the cellular level. In most species, increased reproduction is linked to decreased lifespan. This is the theory researchers expect to confirm when studying how childbearing affects longevity in humans, but apparently, it isnt quite that cut and dried.

Although the relationship between womens fertility and their post-reproductive longevity has been extensively studied, the nature of this relationship remains unclear, the authors of yetanotherPLOS Onearticledeclared in December 2015. A meta-analysis of 31 studies on this topic did not show a consistent pattern. The relationship can be negative, positive, or absent.

I was very puzzled, said Pablo Nepomnaschy, about his findings on cellular health among Mayan women in Santa Cruz La Laguna, in the highlands of Guatemala.

Visual by David Samson

Childbearing comes with a vast array of variables: maternal nutrition, disease risk, time between pregnancies, breastfeeding duration, number of pregnancies, even the babys gender. Boys tend to grow faster in utero, to weigh more at birth, and to make higher lactational demands, so having sons may be more energetically expensive for mothers than having daughters, Jasienska explains in The Arc of Life.

And breastfeeding is even more energetically expensive than pregnancy. Women who exclusively breastfeed their babies need to eat an extra 640 calories a day; only 300 additional calories per day are needed during the last two trimesters of pregnancy. Its a factor that tends to be neglected by research into the relationship between fertility and longevity.

The [overall] costs are not the same for someone who eats well compared to someone whose food intake cant cover the excess energy needs of pregnancy and lactation, Jasienska says. [In] well-off women who have many children, we see increases in longevity. For someone in an economically developing country, for example, the costs of reproduction are much more intensely received by the organism.

Childbearing has been shown to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis, Jasienska noted. Conversely, the hormones involved in pregnancy and lactation can reduce the risk of pancreatic and reproductive cancers. So a womans lifestyle habits and baseline risks for these diseases will all play a part in the ultimate effects of childbearing. Did having kids end your drinking and smoking days, or do your children drive you to drink? According to Jasienska, this is why some studies see no effect: because everything evens out.

Moreover, she says, having a child every year is much different from having, say, one child every four years.The question is: is the damage reversible? For women who have children close together, is [the body] only repairing itself a little, but accumulating damage that leads to problems at an older age?

Not all studies account for all of these variables, but that doesnt mean their findings arent valid, just that we should understand the limits of their broader applicability. To study all of what reproduction does and how Im not sure if a perfect study is possible at all, Jasienska says.

Half a world away, in the highlands of Guatemala, Pablo Nepomnaschy found a population to study with similarly wide-ranging fertility rate: between one and 10 children. Nepomnaschy is the director of the Maternal and Child Health Lab at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, and co-author of the study that linked childbearing with longer telomeres. He began collecting data on a group of indigenous Kaqchikel Mayan women in 2000, expecting his findings to support life-history theory. Instead, he found the opposite.

I was very puzzled, says Nepomnaschy, speaking from the field in Guatemala. So I had my team redo the results, but they kept coming out the same way I soon discovered we were not the only ones to find these results, but nobody had a good explanation of why.

He says he then happened upon a study in which researchers in Israel found that both mice and humans exhibited faster tissue rejuvenation after pregnancy. The fetal cells that mingle in the mothers organs and bloodstream, the authors suggested, may act like an injection of youth.

I was blown away by [these results] reproduction is costly, but maybe its associated with biological mechanisms that slow down aging, Nepomnaschy said. On average, women live longer than men. So there may be something built into female DNA, or into the process of reproduction, that helps maternal cells recover from being temporarily neglected.

Perhaps its that theres an optimum number of human offspring. A recentanalysis of 18 cohort studies, seven of which included men,uncovered a J-shaped association between number of children and risk of mortality from all causes: Parents of one to five children had a reduced risk of death compared with those who had either no children or at least six. For both men and women, the greatest reduction was for parents of three to four children. Other large studies cite the magic number as two.

Since youd have to start young and have relatively short periods between pregnancies to give birth to six kids, this assessment is in line with Jasienskas concern about the bodys ability to withstand such demands. Another possibility is that the genes linked to increased fertility are also associated with increased levels of oxidative stress, as well as increased susceptibility to infectious diseases.

Pregnancy is one thing: parenting is another. Do social support systems after birth or lack thereof affect a mothers recuperation? Surely decreased sleep and increased stress play roles here, too.

Pregnancy is one thing: parenting is another. Do social support systems affect a mothers recuperation? Surely decreased sleep and increased stress play roles, too.

Nepomnaschy says that as with childbearing, the biological costs and benefits of childrearing may vary by population and counteract each other. Jasienska explains that on one hand, if parents have limited resources and must share them with many kids, this is not going to be good for their health. On the other hand, children help their parents and also take care of aging parents. Our study showed that women with high fertility have shorter life span, but in men, number of daughters is related to longer life span.

Its likely that no study will ever separate out all of the factors to definitively say how pregnancy and parenting affect the body. Especially not if what were looking for is a simple answer an irresistible headline that purports to be applicable to anyone.

Olivia Campbell, a science journalist and essayist, is a regular contributor atNew YorkMagazine. Her work has also appeared in The WashingtonPost, Scientific American, Quartz, VICE,Pacific Standard,and STAT News.

See the article here:
The Curious Case of Motherhood and Longevity - Undark Magazine

Updated 16 hours ago

Pastor Bob J. Lecocq said his parents, Bob G. and Rosetta Lecocq, thought that coffee had a divine quality to it.

They used to say that it's always a full cup of God's love, Lecocq said of his parents, who owned Lazarus Tomb Coffee House Ministries, now known as Sheep Inc. in Arnold.

Lecocq's parents may have been right about the special properties of coffee. Two recent studies published by the Annals of Internal Medicine found that there is a link between coffee and increased longevity.

One of the studies funded by the National Cancer Institute found that those who drank at least one cup of coffee a day had a 12 percent lower risk of death from heart disease, certain types of cancer, stroke, diabetes, respiratory disease and kidney disease. The study also found that those who drank three cups a day decreased those risks by 18 percent. These findings were consistent among white people, black people, Latinos and Japanese Americans.

Both studies found that the longevity correlations existed whether the coffee was regular or decaf.

However, the studies don't prove that coffee is the cause of the increased longevity, only that there is a correlation or association between coffee drinkers and longevity.

Residents and cafe owners in the Alle-Kiski Valley and Greensburg areas had plenty to say about their own coffee drinking habits on Tuesday.

Coffee drinking habits

Every morning at 5 a.m., I have a shot in the dark' to get me going, said Lisa Hegedus, owner of Caffe Barista in Greensburg.

A shot in the dark for Hegedus is a two-and-a-half-cup pot of coffee with two shots of espresso and a little bit of cream and sugar. For her, it is what she needs to start her day.

Darnicka Koskey, owner of Koskey's Korner Ice Cream Cafe in Tarentum, said she needs her morning cup strong and with some cream and no sugar.

If I don't get that morning cup, I feel all discombobulated, Koskey said.

Naturally, growing up in a family that owned a coffee house, Lecocq started early around 12 years old.

Lecocq, with the Monroeville Assembly of God, said his father sometimes used to eat coffee soup, a bowl of coffee with bread broken up into it for breakfast, though he didn't make it for customers.

Health benefits

Hegedus, who has been drinking coffee most of her adult life, said she never thought coffee was bad for her health.

Obviously it makes you feel like you have more energy, but I'm 52 years old and I don't feel or look it, Hegedus said.

Jess McGovern, an employee at Sun Dawg Cafe in Greensburg, said she drinks coffee and tea. But she said she understood that tea may be a little more effective for promoting heart health than coffee.

However, not everyone agreed that coffee was as healthy as the studies made it out to be.

David Durcy of Brackenridge said he knows coffee is addictive.

Any time I try to stop, it takes two or three weeks to get it completely out of my system, Durcy said.

Mike Rametta of Allegheny Township said studies often contradict other studies.

It seems like everything that's good for you is also bad for you, Rametta said.

Effects of the studies

Koskey said she might add a cup or two to her day if it could decrease her chance of serious health issues.

Cancer runs in my family. If I can do something to dodge that bullet, I'll do it, Koskey said.

Durcy said he doesn't plan to drink more coffee, but he will smile a lot more when he's drinking his morning pot.

McGovern said she thinks coffee drinkers would stick with the beverage whether or not they believe it is good for them.

Leif Greiss is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-226-4681, lgreiss@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Leif_Greiss.

Read more:
Longevity study a shot in the arm for Western Pa. coffee lovers - Tribune-Review

Despite Theresa Mays plea to opposition parties to contribute to policy, there is little sign of co-operation so far. Following the launch of the Taylor Reportonemployment practices, theSNP have said the findings fall shamefully short, while Jeremy Corbyn has called it a huge missed opportunity to tackle insecure employment. As Isabel notes, Taylor could be forgiven for wondering whether he might as well have just written a blog post instead and spent the rest of the time eating crisps.

Still, the Prime Minister doesappear to have listened to other parties on one issue. Following cross-party pressure, No 10 has said an inquiry will be held into the contaminated blood scandal that left at least 2,400 people dead. But given that the government would have been expected to be defeated in a Parliamentary vote on the issue, it still looks as though May is being pushed into making decisions rather than choosing to seek a higher ground.

So far the two issues May has had to concede on (the blood contamination inquiry and NHS-funded abortions for Northern Irish women who travel to England) have showed that she is weakened but they have not undermined her party. They are issues on which the Conservatives have not had to deviate from long-held ideology. This is why the real test of her longevity will be on matters related to Brexit. The Repeal Bill comes to Parliament on Thursday and any government concessions let alone defeats could prove career-ending for May 2.0.

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The real test of Theresa May's longevity will be on Brexit | Coffee ... - Spectator.co.uk (blog)

New Delhi: A high-protein diet often topped the list of nutritionists' diet chart, especially when it comes to building muscle and losing weight.

Weight loss through diet offers a range of health benefits, including reducing your risk of developing high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers. Lowering your risk from these conditions could mean you are making a wise decision, promoting health and longevity.

Generally, these high-protein diets often restrict carbs like cereals, grains, fruits, and possibly vegetables.

Talking about high-protein diets, this extra protein can come from either plants or animals.

Beans and legumes (such as lentils, chickpeas, soybeans), nuts, seeds, and vegetables like spinach, broccoli are plant products/plants high in protein.

Chicken breast, seafood, eggs, cheese, diary and whey protein are animal products high in protein.

While both have health benefits, studies have shed light on which one is a healthy long-term option plant-based proteins or animal-based proteins.

Researchers found that people who consumed high levels of animal proteins were at an increased risk of death from heart disease. They were also found to be overweight, more sedentary.

Also, consuming high amount of proteins from processed and unprocessed red meat has been linked to a higher mortality rate compared to those taking in more of proteins from plant sources.

So now, hope you know how much is required and which one to consume more!

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Animal-based protein vs plant-based protein - Which is better for longevity? - Zee News

There's something truly magical about a cup of coffee. A steaming cup in the morning can help you face the day, a sweating glass of iced coffee will perk you up in the afternoon heat, and a warm mug after dinner helps settle your meal.

Yet people frequently try to limit their coffee consumption for health reasons, fearing negative effects.

Two major studies published July 10 in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, however, should help assuage those fears.

The studies involved more than 700,000 people and found that the more coffee individuals consumed, the less likely they were to die an early death from a number of diseases including cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

And for those who don't want to consume more caffeine, don't worry - decaf seems to offer the same health benefits.

More coffee, lower risk of death

For the larger of the two new studies, researchers analysed data from a nutrition study that tracked more than 520,000 people from 10 European countries for an average of 16.4 years. The more coffee those participants consumed, the lower their risk of death, researchers found.

The top 25 percent of coffee drinkers in the study had three or more cups a day. Among that group, men were 12 percent less likely to die early than comparable people who avoided coffee completely. And women who consumed a lot of coffee were 7 percent less likely to die early.

In addition to lower general risk of early death, researchers found reduced risk of death from diseases of the digestive system and circulatory system. For men, coffee consumption was also associated with a lower risk of suicide.

The second study followed the diet and health habits of 185,855 Americans for just over 16 years and found similar reductions in risk of death - in this case from heart disease, cancer, respiratory disease, stroke, diabetes, and kidney disease.

Compared to people who didn't drink coffee at all, people who drank two to three cups per day were 18 percent less likely to die early. People who drank one cup a day were 12 percent less likely to die than those who abstained.

This second study was particularly noteworthy because it focused on American populations of different ethnicities, including black, white, Latino, Japanese, and Hawaiian-Americans. Most previous studies on the effects of coffee on longevity have focused on people of European descent.

Causation versus correlation

These studies are observational, meaning they can't establish cause and effect - no one can say based on this data that drinking more coffee will definitely extend your life. The researchers tried to control for factors like diet, obesity, and smoking status, but it's still possible that people who consume coffee are already healthier in some way they didn't control for.

However, this isn't the first research to indicate that coffee may improve your health. In both studies, authors noted that previous research has found coffee consumption to be associated with improvements in liver function, blood sugar levels, and inflammation.

Since decaf coffee was also associated with improved longevity, it's probably not the caffeine that's responsible for these benefits, even if that's the reason most of us drink coffee.

In an editorial published alongside the studies, a group of researchers speculated that the benefits of coffee may come from other compounds that are extracted when the beverage is prepared, especially antioxidant polyphenols. (Caffeine may still have some benefits, though.)

Even if we don't know whether coffee causes this increased longevity, these new findings suggest that people shouldn't feel guilty about their coffee consumption.

Drinking unlimited amounts of caffeinated coffee could eventually put you at risk, but up until about five cups per day, the researchers say you don't need to worry.

This article was originally published by Business Insider.

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Drinking More Coffee Is Associated With a Longer Life, New Studies Show - ScienceAlert