StemCell Therapy

In the corner, a wrinkling woman turned her wrists and massaged her fingers. A few chairs away, a graying man rubbed his knees while sitting on his walker. Others hoisted themselves up by cane.

It was a full house Monday for San Joaquin Community Hospitals monthly lecture series that this week went over a topic Dr. Thomas Ferro said would most likely affect everybody if they live long enough: arthritis.

Its the No. 1 cause of disability, loss of wages, and pain and suffering in the United States, Ferro told the room of more than 150 mostly aging onlookers.

And it was no surprise why they were there. When Ferro asked how many experienced arthritic pain on a daily basis, most hands went up.

Many were so desperate for relief that they interjected throughout Ferros presentation to ask questions.

Whats the root cause of arthritis?

We dont really fully understand it, Ferro said, adding that it sometimes runs in the family. He compared older bodies to cars with 300,000 miles on them: they might look good, but probably have lots of issues, and letting them get that old without having some parts replaced is almost unheard of, albeit ideal.

What about exercise should those with arthritis stop altogether?

Moving the bones and keeping the muscles going is good, and low-impact aerobics are the hallmark of arthritis exercise.

It was the best-attended lecture San Joaquin Community Hospital has ever seen, said Administrative Director of Marketing and Communications Jimmy Phillips.

These are people with chronic and constant pain who want relief, Phillips said.

Public Health offers community-wide CPR training

Passersby might see lots of folks performing CPR along city sidewalks Wednesday, but it won't be because dozens of people were suddenly stricken with cardiac arrest.

It's simply a training exercise.

Kern County Department of Public Health Services is hosting a community-wide hands-only Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation event from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. right on city sidewalks.

The chest compressions, which don't include mouth-to-mouth breathing, focus on the first moments of a sudden cardiac arrest, allowing blood to flow to vital organs.

"By teaching community members hands-only CPR, victims of sudden cardiac arrest will be more likely to survive," said Dr. Kristopher Lyons, EMS medical director. "It only takes five minutes to learn this simple skill that can save a life."

Harold Pierce covers education and health for The Californian. He can be reached at 661-395-7404. Follow him on Twitter @RoldyPierce

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HEALTH ROUNDUP: Arthritis lecture at San Joaquin Community Hospital draws big crowds - The Bakersfield Californian

EVAN HARDING

Last updated17:39, June 13 2017

John Hawkins

Arthritis sufferer Thelma Buck, of Invercargill, is devasted a pain relief product has been blocked from entering New Zealand.

An Australian-made supplement which has given some arthritis sufferers in Southland a new lease on life has been blocked from entering the country, devastating users.

The liquid supplement, Arborvitae, is marketed as an arthritis pain reliever and health supplement across the Tasman.

Until recently it was being imported into New Zealand and onsoldto Kiwis by a Canterbury-based company, whileother New Zealanders were buying it online directly from Australia.

John Hawkins

Arborvitae, arthritis pain relief supplement, blocked from entering New Zealand.

However, the Ministry for Primary Industries says it poses a biosecurity risk and has banned it from entering the country.

Among the users of Arborvitaeare two Invercargill women who say the product has deadened their arthritic pain andallowed them to live a better quality of life.

However, they now fear the pain will return if they can no longer access the product.

A Ministry for PrimaryIndustriesspokesman saidArborvitaewas not allowed into New Zealand because it did not meet New Zealand's biosecurity requirements.

It contains a level of honey that is prohibited unless it has been heat-treated to ensure potential bugs are destroyed.

In order to clear biosecurity requirements, the product requires an official declaration stating the honey hasbeen heat treated.

"MPI has communicated this requirement to the importer," the MPI spokesman said.

"While we sympathise with those who wish to buy the product, we must apply New Zealand's biosecurity rules evenly because any exceptions could lead to incursions of bugs and pests."

Arthritis sufferer Thelma Buck, of Invercargill, said she was devastated the product was no longer allowed in the country.

She turned to the product when her GP said she should nolonger take pillsfor her arthritis because it affected her blood pressure.

The 72-year-old had been buying Arborvitaefor three months months off a Christchurch company that was importing it from Australia.

Buck said she had suffered from arthritic pain for 30 years and had tried many things to help ease the pain, but Arborvitae was the best.

Before she began taking Arborvitae, she used a walker to get around town and now she only needs a walking stick.

She can also sleep through the night, having previously being unable to sleep for the pain.

"Itabsolutely deadens the pain from arthritis. You don't feel the pain.

"Now I can walk around the house whereas I was thinking I might have to go into a home."

Buck's sister-in-law, Ray Riley, who also suffers from arthritis,said it had made a massive difference to her life.

She is in less pain than previously and can move around more than she could in the past.

"It's madea hellof a lot of difference."

Andrew Thorman, owner of Jet Trading Ltd in Christchurch which was importing Arborvitaefrom Australia for three months until a fortnight ago, said he had since received calls from upset Kiwi customers unable to buy it.

"It's had huge success in Australia and I am trying to make it available in New Zealand so people can reap its benefits."

He sells a number of products but Arborvitae was a "standout as far as making a noticeable difference very quickly to people's lives".

Vic Davidson, the Australian businessman who "invented" the Arborvitaesupplement, said it waslisted with the TGA in Australiaas a "complementary medicine", which was a medicine that did not contain drugs.

The TGA [Therapeutic Goods Administration] regulates therapeutic goods in Australia.

"We sell 3000 to 4000 bottles a week in Australia, it's in a lot of chemist shops.

He was trying to get the issue resolved so it could be sold in New Zealand.

Former Canterbury Bankstown rugby league player Graeme Hughes haspublicly endorsed the product online.

-The Southland Times

Excerpt from:
Arthritis sufferers devastated pain reliever not allowed in NZ - Stuff.co.nz

By combining an experimental stem cell treatment with a nanoparticle delivery system, researchers may eventually stop MS and other autoimmune diseases.

An innovative stem cell therapy could change how we treat multiple sclerosis (MS), but are we any closer to a cure?

The work of Dr. Su Metcalfe, founder and chief scientific officer of the biotech company LIFNano, appears to be breathing new life into that hope.

Metcalfe and her team developed a way to fight MS by using the bodys own natural mechanisms but it hasnt been tested in humans yet.

MS is an inflammatory and neurodegenerative autoimmune disease that can result in an array of neurological symptoms including fatigue, muscle spasms, speech problems, and numbness. It is caused by the immune system attacking myelin, the insulating coating that runs along the outside of nerve cells. The result is damage to the brain and central nervous system.

The disease currently affects roughly 2.5 million people worldwide. About 200 new cases are diagnosed each week in the United States.

LIFNano uses a new treatment based on LIF a stem cell protein that forms naturally in the body to signal and regulate the immune systems response to myelin.

LIF, in addition to regulating and protecting us against attack, also plays a major role in keeping the brain and spinal cord healthy, Metcalfe recently told Cambridge News.

In fact it plays a major role in tissue repair generally, turning on stem cells that are naturally occurring in the body, making it a natural regenerative medicine, but also plays a big part in repairing the brain when its been damaged, she said.

Metcalfe has spent years studying LIF, but only recently realized its potential for treatment likening it to an on/off switch for the immune system.

However, once she discovered its potential, there were almost immediate problems in its application. One of the earliest was how quickly LIF breaks down once it is administered into the body.

If you try just to inject it into a patient, it dissipates or disappears in about 20 minutes, Olivier Jarry, CEO of LIFNano, told Healthline.

That makes it unusable in a clinic. You would have to have some kind of pump and inject it continually.

A breakthrough came for Metcalfe when she took findings from her studies of LIF and applied them to nanotechnology. The treatment she is now developing relies on nanospheres derived from a well-established medical polymer known as PLGA, which is already used in materials like stitches. And because it is biodegradable, it can be left to dissolve inside the body.

Storing LIF inside these PLGA nanospheres before administering them into the bloodstream allows for a sustained dose over the course of several days.

The process differs significantly from the current drugs used to treat MS. These treatments most often fall under the category of drugs known as immunosuppressors, which inhibit the bodys overall immune system response.

LIF is theoretically much more precise than immunosuppressors, and should keep the immune system functioning against harmful infections and disease.

Were not using any drugs, said Metcalfe. Were simply switching on the bodys own systems of self-tolerance and repair. There arent any side effects because all were doing is tipping the balance. Autoimmunity happens when that balance has gone awry slightly, and we simply reset that.

The team cautions that LIF therapy is still several years away.

While some outlets have run wild with Metcalfes research, announcing that a cure for MS is right around the corner, those headlines are speculative.

Some MS advocacy groups have even made public statements calling coverage of her work premature and irresponsible.

Jarry told Healthline that LIFNano is expecting to enter FDA phase I trials in 2020. This would be the first time that it is used in human subjects. But even if the treatment proves to be safe and effective, the soonest it could be on the market is 2023, he estimated.

The main focus of LIF therapy is now on MS. But it has potential for treating other autoimmune diseases including psoriasis and lupus.

We are optimistic in the sense that we may provide a long-term remission for patients with MS, said Jarry.

Is it a cure? Wed love at some point to use the term cure, but we are very cautious.

Link:
Stem Cell Therapy Offers Hope for Multiple Sclerosis Remission - Healthline

"At StemGenex, we are committed to helping people achieve optimum health and better quality of life through the healing benefits of their own stem cells," said Alexander. "Specifically, we use adipose-derived adult stem cell therapy for patients battling conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, COPD, Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis. We are also committed to the science of stem cell therapy and sponsor five clinical outcome studiesregistered with theNational Institute of Health (NIH) for these diseases."

"What I personally witnessed before the start of StemGenex were patients who had exhausted conventional medical treatments but wanted to try alternative therapies. I was one of them, suffering from severe Rheumatoid Arthritis. Ihad only three options; I could seek a clinical trial, travel to outside of the U.S. to try alternative therapies such as stem cell treatment or petition the FDA for access to drugs under the agency's "expanded access," or "compassionate use" program. Now, new state laws like the one just passed in Texas, built on model legislation from the Goldwater Institute in Arizona, will allow doctors and patients to make their own informed decisions on treatments that have cleared the safety phase of FDA testing."

Last year, in a move that was seen by some as a response to "Right to Try" laws, the 21st Century Cures Act, a landmark piece of legislation focused on medical innovation and medical research, was signed into law by President Obama. This Act provides the FDA with the flexibility to accelerate how it evaluates regenerative medicine treatments, such as stem cell therapies, while maintaining its high standards of safety and efficacy.

"We're on the cusp of a major change on how patients can access stem cell therapy," saidAlexander. "Today, new treatments and advances in research are giving new hope to people affected by a wide range of autoimmune and degenerative illnesses," said Alexander. "StemGenex Medical Group is proud to offer the highest quality of care and to potentially help those with unmet clinical needs improve their quality of life."

ABOUT StemGenex Medical Group

StemGenex Medical Group is committed to helping people achieve optimum health and better quality of life through the healing benefits of their own stem cells. StemGenex provides stem cell therapy options for individuals suffering with inflammatory and degenerative illnesses. Committed to the science and innovation of stem cell treatment,StemGenex sponsors five clinical outcome studiesregistered with theNational Institutes of Health (NIH) for Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Osteoarthritis. These have been established to formally document and evaluate the quality of life changes in individuals following adipose-derived stem cell treatment.

Contact: Jamie Schubert, Director of Media & Community Relations jschubert@StemGenex.com, (858) 242-4243

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/stem-cell-therapy-becomes-law-in-texas-300472809.html

SOURCE StemGenex Medical Group

http://www.stemgenex.com

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Stem Cell Therapy Becomes Law in Texas - PR Newswire (press release)

This overestimate could lead a doctor to target a black patient's blood sugar levels aggressively, causing dangerously low blood sugar.

"I believe our study, for the first time, definitively shows there is a component of higher A1c that is due to biologic or genetic differences in glucose attaching to the red blood cell," said Dr. Richard Bergenstal, executive director of the International Diabetes Center in Minneapolis and lead author of the study.

The study notes that race only partially explains the hemoglobin A1c differences, and more research is needed to identify social and economic factors that may influence blood sugar levels in various groups of people.

For black patients in America, who have traditionally faced a history of barriers and disadvantages in health care, those factors might also include having limited access to care or medications.

Bergenstal offered one specific question that concerned patients could ask their doctors: "Are we depending just on the hemoglobin A1c to measure how my diabetes control is doing, or are we actually looking at the blood sugars to get a little better reflection of my blood sugars?"

He added that "the A1c, you know, is kind of an average marker, and no patient is average. One of our take-home messages is, it's probably time to be looking at blood sugars and personalizing therapy for each individual a little more than just this average blood sugar test."

In the US, type 2 accounts for about 95% of all diagnosed cases of diabetes. Type 1 diabetes, which occurs most often in children and young adults but can appear at any age, accounts for about 5%.

High hemoglobin A1c levels tend to correlate with complications, Bergenstal said.

"Glucose attaching on to proteins in the eye, kidney, nerve and blood vessels may be one way diabetes with high glucose is part of the cause of complications -- like blindness, kidney disease and nerve disease and amputations," he said.

The new study included data on 104 black patients and 104 white patients with type 1 diabetes. The data were taken from 10 diabetes centers across the US between October 2015 and January of 2017.

Bergenstal has received grants from and served on consulting/advisory boards for Abbott Diabetes Care, as well as other health-care companies, including Novo Nordisk, Becton Dickinson, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb/AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson, during the conduct of the study.

The researchers found that the average hemoglobin A1c levels in black patients were higher than those in white patients, with a difference of about 0.8 percentage points. Based on the average glucose concentrations in the patients, however, the difference should have been only about 0.4 percentage points, the researchers found.

Yet the study came with limitations.

"We didn't study type 2, but I think there's no reason to think the pathophysiology or the chemistry of how glucose attaches to red cells is any different in type 2 than type 1," Bergenstal said.

"We just studied non-Hispanic African-Americans," he added. "We did not study Asians or Native Americans or Hispanics to see if there is a difference from whites, but we have a good model of how to test that in the future."

Other diabetes researchers also have called for more research, but not necessarily with a focus on race.

The new study calls for more focus on personalized medicine, taking into account a patient's ethnic background as well as other factors, said Dr. Alvin Powers, president of medicine and science for the American Diabetes Association and a professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

"The A1c is an important measurement that the person with diabetes should know and should monitor with his or her health care provider, because if the A1c is elevated, your chance of having diabetes-related complications increases," said Powers, who was not involved in the new study.

"So, moving the A1c as close to the goal determined by the patient and his or her doctor is important, but this study shows that in interpreting the A1c, there may be some variation, whether an individual is of African-American descent or of Caucasian descent," Powers said.

Though interesting, the new study findings should be interpreted with caution and not necessarily be applied clinically until more research is conducted, said Dr. Leonard Egede, a professor of medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, who was not involved in the study.

"The key thing is that when you look at racial differences, we have social factors, clinical factors, and we also have what some people would consider genetic factors. I think the social and environmental factors are larger contributors to differences than the genetic factors," Egede said. "When you look at what they're describing, the idea that glucose variability may differ ... I don't think that's enough to neglect the fact that we actually have major issues around access to care, quality of care, access to medications."

He added that the study "should not detract from the core message we've been trying to get across to patients, which is that they need to take ownership of their disease, and they need to be very aggressive in their diet, their physical activity and taking their medication."

All in all, "these findings suggest next steps for the field," they wrote.

Read the original:
Why a key diabetes test may work differently depending on your race - CNN

Johnson & Johnson's type 2 diabetes drug Invokana significantly reduced the risk of serious heart problems in patients with established heart disease or at elevated risk in a pair of large studies, according to data presented at a medical meeting on Monday.

The medicine also led to a reduced risk of hospitalization for heart failure and protection against kidney function decline. But the risk of amputations, particularly of toes or feet, was double versus placebo in the studies of 10,142 patients with type 2 diabetes.

On the study's main goal Invokana, known chemically as canagliflozin, reduced the combined risk of heart-related death, nonfatal heart attack and nonfatal stroke by a statistically significant 14 percent compared with placebo.

"What we actually got here was not just evidence of safety but evidence of benefit," said lead investigator Bruce Neal, professor of medicine at the University of New South Wales Sydney.

"It's a really positive result. This (heart disease) is the main thing that people with diabetes die from," said Neal, who presented the data at the American Diabetes Association meeting in San Diego.

The study was required to prove Invokana did not cause heart complications. The expectation bar was raised, however, after rival drug Jardiance from Eli Lilly and Co and Boehringer Ingelheim in 2015 demonstrated heart protective qualities in a similar large trial. Reduction of heart-related death is now included in the Jardiance label.

"We look forward to working with the FDA and regulators around the world with respect to getting this in the label," James List, head of cardiovascular and metabolism for J&J's Janssen unit, said of the new data.

Two-thirds of patients had confirmed heart disease and the rest were deemed at high risk. They were followed for an average of about four years.

The number of amputations was small but about double that of the placebo group. A warning of increased amputation risk was added to Invokana's prescribing label after it was discovered by safety monitors during an interim analysis of the study.

"Care is warranted in the use of canagliflozin in patients at risk for amputation," a New England Journal of Medicine article on the study said.

Invokana is the market leader among a newer class of type 2 diabetes treatments called SGLT-2 inhibitors, along with Jardiance and AstraZeneca Plc's Farxiga. They work by removing blood sugar through the urine.

Results from a large Farxiga heart safety trial are expected in 2019.

"I think we're going to see much greater use of canagliflozin and the class in type 2 diabetes," Neal said.

Invokana and related combination treatment Invokamet had sales $284 million in the first quarter, J&J reported.

(Reporting by Bill Berkrot in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

A federal jury has cleared Bayer AG and Johnson & Johnson of liability in the second trial to stem from thousands of lawsuits blaming injuries on the blood thinner Xarelto, the drug companies said on Monday.

Influential proxy firm ISS on Monday turned up the heat on Mylan NV, advising its institutional clients to voice their dissatisfaction with the generic drugmaker's board of directors and its chairman's pay package at its June 22 shareholder meeting.

Follow this link:
J&J diabetes drug shows heart benefit in large safety study - Reuters

A mans finger is pricked to test cholesterol and blood sugar on August 13, 2009 in Newark, New Jersey. Rick Gershon / Getty Images

Tests done in 67 adults with type-1 diabetes showed the drug appeared to boost their body's own production of insulin, Dr. Stephen Gitelman of the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine told a meeting of the American Diabetes Association.

On average the people that got the medicine used less insulin, Gitelman told NBC News.

He stressed that it is a small trial meant to show the drug can safely do in people what it did in mice.

We just wanted to get a sense if this showed some benefit in adults so we could get to the target population in kids, Gitelman said.

The conservative estimate is that beta cell function was maybe 19 percent better at one year. So its not a slam-dunk home run.

About 5 percent of the

Its an autoimmune disease, caused when the body mistakenly destroys pancreatic cells that produce hormones like insulin and glucagon that control blood sugar. High glucose levels damage tiny blood vessels, which in turn can lead to blindness, heart disease, stroke and kidney failure. People can lose toes, feet or legs to amputation.

Related:

When levels fall too low, patients can pass out and sometimes die.

There's no cure and the only treatment is to keep blood sugar under tight control with diet and insulin.

Most people with type-1 diabetes must constantly check their blood sugar throughout the day, administering insulin according to what they are eating and how much they are exercising.

If those dying pancreatic cells could be saved, they might have to do this less often.

That would be one potential pathway -- to use the drug to try to get in as early as possible when there are still as many beta cells remaining as possible and to slow down progression and potentially even keep people off insulin, said Andy Rakeman, director of discovery research at JDRF, the diabetes research charity that funded the study.

Its estimated that people at the time they are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes that they have anywhere between 10 and 15 or maybe even 40 percent of their beta cells still remaining, Rakeman added.

Some people maintain beta cell function for years. We used to think all or nearly all of the beta cells are destroyed very rapidly.

The organization is paying for research looking at several ways to preserve these cells. Gleevec would be a good candidate because its been around for nearly 20 years and while it causes side-effects such as a vomiting and rash, they are usually not severe in the diabetes patients.

Its taking an old drug and repurposing it for a new use, Rakeman said.

Gleevec, known generically as imatinib, and Sutent, known generically as sunitinib, interfere with an enzyme called tyrosine kinase. In patients with cancers such as chronic myelogenous leukemia, cutting back on this enzyme stops the cancer.

Related:

Cancer patients who also had autoimmune diseases who took Gleevec and Sutent reported that the drugs also appeared to ease the symptoms of the other conditions. Thats when a team at UCSF started testing Gleevec in mice bred to develop diabetes.

Gitelman says his team believes Gleevec may be taking some of the pressure off the pancreatic beta cells.

He is a little worried his study may be misunderstood. The team just finished the research last week and theyve rushed to put together a quick presentation to the Diabetes Association meeting. It will be weeks before they can analyze the data and put it into a form that can be reviewed by other experts in a medical journal.

Its early and the message could be misconstrued, Gitelman said.

This definitely does not show that Gleevec is curing type 1 diabetes, Rakeman stressed.

Related:

Plus, Gleevec is expensive.

It costs more than $140,000 a year, according to Dr. Hagop Kantarjian of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, one of the original Gleevec trial leaders. A generic version, however, costs $400 in India.

Link:
Cancer Drug Gleevec Might Slow Type-1 Diabetes - NBCNews.com

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North DeSoto pitcher E.C. Delafield (right) has awarded her $1,000 stipend from Gatorade to the fight against diabetes in honor of Max Abernathy.(Photo: Jimmy Watson/The Times)Buy Photo

STONEWALL Max Abernathy sat curled up in a chair inside the North DeSoto field house Monday afternoon with his knees pulled up over his chin and his face partially hidden by his knees. No amount of encouragement could get the 7-year-old Stonewall youngster, who battles juvenile diabetes on a daily basis, to sit on the leg of Lady Griffins pitcher extraordinaire E.C. Delafield for a photo opportunity. The son of North DeSoto football coach and athletic director Scott Abernathy, Max has spent a lot of time around Delafield and the team that has won three consecutive LHSAA Class 4A state softball titles. Delafield babysat for Max during the past couple of years and the duo developed a bond.

EC Delafield and Max Abernathy talk about diabetes Jimmy Watson/The Times

Thats why the recent NDHS graduate and Northwestern State signee has decided where to assign the $1,000 stipend shell receive from The Gatorade Company for recently being selected the Louisiana Gatorade Player of the Year. I have decided to give the money to Shreveport Diabetes Sports, Inc. because of my buddy Max right here, Delafield said patting the youngster on the back as he leaned forward in his chair. Max has been a big part of my life since I came here to North DeSoto. Hes one of my best buds. Abernathy has watched his idol hurl inning after inning of softball to become perhaps the most decorated softball player in northwest Louisiana in at least a decade. She was the Most Valuable Player in the state title game after pitching and hitting the Lady Griffins (31-3) to a 10-0 run-rule-shortened victory over West Ouachita. She was chosen the Louisiana Sports Writers Association Outstanding Player on the recently released Class 4A All-State team. Her community service includes annually working in the Gladiators for Maximus, a 5K run designed to benefit the fight against diabetes through the SDS, Inc. Lindsay and Scott Abernathy serve on the board of the organization. Im really excited, said Max about Delafield selecting SDS, Inc. for the funding. She is really good. Delafield said she thanks all of the people who assist with the run. Its fun to see the people come out and support this little guy, she said. The donation is another step in a fight against a disease that affects at least 12 percent of the population and that can be especially difficult to control on youngsters like Max. When I feel low, I feel like my energy is half full, Max said. When Im low, I eat and I drink. Anyone who would like to help can donate at shreveportdiabetessports.com. Twitter: @JimmyWatson6

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North DeSoto's Delafield opts to support diabetes fight - Shreveport Times

Xconomy New York

Immunotherapy drugs known as checkpoint inhibitors have started to change how a variety of cancers are treated, but they have yet to break through in multiple myeloma, a progressive cancer of the bone marrow. There was a setback on that front today.

Merck (NYSE: MRK) Monday afternoon paused enrollment in two Phase 3 trials testing its immunotherapy drug, pembrolizumab (Keytruda), in combination with two established therapies, pomalidamide (Pomalyst) and dexamethasone, in patients with multiple myeloma. Merck stopped the trials, called Keynote-183 and Keynote-185, to collect more information and better understand more reports of death of the patients on its drug, according to a statement.

Merck didnt disclose additional details, other than to say additional pembrolizumab studies continue unchanged. The analyses need to be conducted, said spokesperson Pam Eisele. But the news offers a fresh reminder of the unknowns and potential safety perils of combining immunotherapy drugs with other treatments to expand their reach. As Xconomy reported last month, with the frenzy to test such combinations, many cancer experts worry that the field is moving too fast; that studies are not being designed with enough care; and that the glut of combination trials is bound to provoke a backlash. Unexpected safety problems have popped up during certain tests.

Merck shares slid 0.9 percent in post-market trading on Monday.

In multiple myeloma, the bone marrows plasma cellsa type of immune cell that normally churns out infection-fighting antibodiesgrow rapidly and abnormally and crowd out healthy red and white blood cells. According to the American Cancer Society, about 30,000 people in the U.S. will be diagnosed with multiple myeloma this year. Its the third most common blood cancer in the country after lymphoma and leukemia.

There are many treatment options available for myelomainjectable antibody drugs, chemotherapies, pills, stem cell transplants, and moreand theyve helped extend patients life expectancy dramatically from just a few decades ago. Yet there is no cure, and the disease progresses even if patients initially respond to treatment. So far, at least, there are no approved immunotherapy treatments for the disease, despite progress with such drugs in a variety of other cancers.

One form of immunotherapy, a cell therapy technique known as CAR-T, has shown early promise in treating handfuls of multiple myeloma patients who have failed several prior therapies. Those tests are early, however. Checkpoint inhibitors, like pembrolizumab and Bristol-Myers Squibbs (NYSE: BMY) nivolumab (Opdivo), are being tested too, and are further along. These drugs have been approved for lung, skin, bladder, and other cancers and have become the standard of care for some patients. While checkpoint inhibitors havent been effective on their own in multiple myeloma, they have shown positive signs when combined with existing treatment regimens. The latest results from Mercks prior multiple myeloma study, Keynote-023, for example, were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncologys meeting earlier this month and showed that 44 percent of patients who could be evaluated responded to treatment with a combination of pembrolizumab, pomalidamide, and dexamethasone. Results from the Keynote-023 study have been published in the journal Blood.

That study didnt reveal any unexpected dangerous side effects. As ISI Evercore analyst Umer Raffat wrote in a research note, there was no clear hint in prior studies of a new safety problem when combining Mercks drug with pomalidomide and dexamethasone. Given Mercks news today, such problems are worth watching with other, similar combination trials currently underway: Bristol-Myers has a Phase 3 trial, Checkmate-602, that began in April 2016, while AstraZenecas Phase 2 study, FusionMM-003, started last July, according to a note from Raffat.

Ben Fidler is Xconomy's Deputy Biotechnology Editor. You can e-mail him at bfidler@xconomy.com

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In a Myeloma Setback, Merck Halts Studies Due to Patient Deaths - Xconomy

Toronto Sun

Cyclist sets his sights on fighting blindness Toronto Sun John Tomasino isn't just along for the ride he's leading it. Although severely sight impaired, the 55-year-old teacher is Ambassador for the Cycle For Sight Creemore fundraising event and he'll be putting in 150 km on June 24 to fight blindness ...

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Cyclist sets his sights on fighting blindness - Toronto Sun

In January 2016, a 24-year-old woman in Mannheim, Germany was reportedly raped by three migrants. At first, she identified them to police as German nationals, later explaining her lie as reluctance to help fuel aggressive racism. Then, astonishingly, she wrote a letter of apology to her attackers in which she blamed her society for their crime, saying I wanted an open Europe, a friendly one You, you arent safe here, because we live in a racist society. You are not the problem. You are not a problem at all.

British political commentator Douglas Murray recounts this anecdote in his brilliant new book, The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam. The victim, seemingly beset by a reflexive, socially entrenched fear of appearing Islamophobic, was willing to sacrifice justice to virtue-signalling. Such conduct is a microcosmic example of the bottomless white guilt that is crippling Europe.

Canada hasnt experienced the same migrant-related stressors as Europe, but that victims spasmodic recoil from perceived Islamophobia looks awfully familiar. Case in point: a fascinatingly logic-tortured June 9 Toronto Star columndevoted to Islamism exculpation, entitled Terrorists are misogynists first. In the piece, pundit Heather Mallick informs us that religion isnt terribly relevant in recent European attacks. No, the real problem is male misogyny. Mallick knows this because It is my job to see patterns in events. And we women see different patterns than men do. (Sigh. Mallick never speaks for me. I wish shed drop that we women shtick.)

In a recent column, Heather Mallick informs us that religion isnt terribly relevant in recent European attacks. No, the real problem is male misogyny

What is the pattern in events that Mallick sees? That all the killers are young males, with a narrow world view who suffer from status anxiety. The wanton spilling of blood is simply the way they display maleness. This is a simplistic theory cut from whole cloth. It completely ignores the role of ideology in terrorism, and the fact that millions of men have status anxiety but do not resort to terrorism to express it.

From the assertion that misogyny is universal, Mallick irrationally leaps to the conclusion that terrorism knows no particular race or culture. Look, she says, at the hateful men we have come to know: here, she lists four Islamist terrorists andfive North American, non-Muslim massacrists (only two of whom were motivated by misogyny), implying a general numerical equivalence. But her non-Muslim, North American massacrists were not associated with organized terror movements or with a specific ideology. And her non-Muslim, North American massacrists and their victims are statistically nugatory beside the vast human wreckage that has occurred as a result of individuals carrying out radical Islamists apocalyptic vision.

In a further attempt at moral equivalence, Mallick writes, Its of no interest to us whether were attacked by a mens rights advocate, the alt-right, a Muslim terrorist or an Irish one. But these are shamelessly misleading comparisons. IRA terrorism is not animated by gender bias, and was territorially and temporally constrained by political ends attainable through negotiation. Islamist terrorism is global and not open to negotiation. Mens rights advocate? A dreadful slur on a civilized movement. To my knowledge, no massacrist has ever cited encouragement to violence from any mens rights association.

Whats Mallicks solution? First, she thinks we ought to discard Muslim or Islamic as an adjective. (Obama and many other politicians have tried that, Heather. It didnt work.)

Whats Mallicks solution? First, she thinks we ought to discard Muslim or Islamic as an adjective. (Obama and many other politicians have tried that, Heather. It didnt work.) Because why single out Islam, when the misogyny of the Roman Catholic church is one of its pillars. Even if that were true (which I dont think it is), where is the organized terrorism or any terror perpetrated in Christs name that Mallicks reckless equivalency implies?

The column is a sad read, but emblematic of the desperation progressives feel when objective evidence contradicts their beloved multicultural theories, and the intellectual corruption to which they fall victim in their stubborn refusal to acknowledge reality. Mallicks jejune finale only plunges deeper into polemic bathos: Lets tackle misogyny at its source and find a way to raise boys to be more like the studious, gentle girls many of them have been told to despise.Lets, as in let us? As in Canada? Been there, done that, Heather. Any other brilliant suggestions for ending Islam er, I mean, status-anxiety driven terrorism?

All thats missing in Mallicks column is a sincere letter of apology to ISIL for the bad rap they are getting from people less enlightened than her. Regrettably, many Canadians think as Mallick does, or think they should. They need to read Murrays book and get woke.

National Post kaybarb@gmail.com Twitter.com/BarbaraRKay

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Barbara Kay: The West's willful blindness to the threat of Islamist terrorism knows no bounds - National Post

An initiative in Los Angeles aims to address eye problems in diabetics before they get too bad to treat.

Los Angeles Times: A Simple Test Is Helping Thousands Of Diabetics In L.A. County Who Face An Increased Risk Of Going Blind The condition, called diabetic retinopathy, is the leading cause of blindness among working-age adults nationwide. A simple test can detect and help treat the problem, but four years ago most diabetics in Los Angeles Countys massive healthcare system werent getting screened. (Karlamangla, 6/12)

In other news

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Text Messages Can Help Lower Blood Sugar Levels, Study Finds Text messages can help motivate Type 2 diabetics to lower their blood-sugar levels, according to a new paper that involved a researcher at the Scripps Whittier Diabetes Institute in La Jolla. The study randomly assigned 126 people whose blood-sugar levels were not well controlled to either of two groups one that received standard care and another that got up to three motivational diabetes-related text messages per day. Both groups were monitored for six months. (Sisson, 6/9)

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An Easy Screening Can Help Defuse 'Ticking Time Bomb' Of Blindness For Diabetics - California Healthline

ISLAMABAD: Over two million Pakistanis are blind and 80 percent of them could have been cured had they been diagnosed at an early stage, Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospitals Executive Director Brig (r) Rizwan Asghar said on Sunday.

He said that data available with Al Shifa showed that lack of basic facilities in far-flung areas and unawareness about the timely check-up were the major causes of eyes diseases and ultimately blindness in the country.

"In last one year, we conducted 40,000 eye surgeries, 350,000 patients were treated and half a million people were screened for possible eye disorders," Asghar said.

Sharing the annual report of the trust with the media, he said that the trust was increasing its services by ten percent annually. "Only the private sector cannot cope with the challenge of blindness as eye diseases are increasing at a fast pace," he said.

"Our population is increasing at an alarming rate. This is putting a strain on services such as sanitation and cleanliness. Many of the viruses, bacteria, parasites, and fungi that can invade the human body are also capable of attacking the surface or interior of the eye," he said.

"Unfortunately, diseases that damage the retina, the optic nerve, or the blood vessels that feed them often cause no pain at all, which is another major problem," he said.

"The trust is running its four state-of-the-art eye hospitals in Rawalpindi, Sukkur, Kohat and Muzaffarabad. The hospital in Rawalpindi has a capacity of 250 beds. It has 40 highly-qualified eye surgeons and disease specialists. They treat about 1,200 patients daily and conduct 80 to 100 operations per day," he said.

Eyesight development:

A new study suggests that vision develops until midlife. This may have a significant impact on people with amblyopia, which is an eye disorder that causes what is commonly known as a "lazy eye".

A team of researchers led by Kathryn Murphy, a professor in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, set out to examine the evolution of the primary visual cortex in the human brain by analysing the postmortem brain tissue of 30 people, ranging in age from 20 days to 80 years.

Until now, the accepted view has been that in humans, the maturation of the primary visual cortex is completed in the first few years of life.

This traditional belief was based on anatomical studies of how the synapses are formed, as well as how connections within the cortex and between the cortex and other brain regions occur.

Murphy and colleagues looked at the so-called GABAergic activity in the brain. GABA stands for gamma-aminobutyric acid, and "GABAergic" refers to the brain's ability to produce it.

GABA is a neurotransmitter whose main function is to inhibit the action of another neurotransmitter called glutamate.

Their former study looked at the balance between excitation and inhibition in the brain, and how it is linked to the plasticity and aging of the visual cortex. The researchers followed the maturation of this brain region and showed how these GABAergic mechanisms change across the human lifespan.

This previous research showed that the GABA-producing mechanisms continue to mature until quite late in life. However, it still was not clear whether all of the mechanisms that regulate the plasticity of the synapses behaved in the same way.

GABA is inhibitory, but what about the excitatory neurotransmitters and synapses?

The researchers found that some of the glutamatergic proteins - that is, the ones that produce the excitatory glutamate - develop until late childhood, but others develop until around the age of 40.

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DailyTimes | 'Lack of proper treatment, awareness main causes of ... - Daily Times

Preparing competent, competitive, and ethical leaders, Azusa Pacifics new Master of Science in Biotechnology equips graduates to make significant contributions to and profoundly influence this emerging science field. Set to launch in fall 2017 with a cohort of 24, the advanced degree distinguishes itself from counterparts at other institutions by approaching the discipline from a distinctly Christian worldview and instilling in students the ability to synthesize human need, potential, and responsibility.

Graduates with this level of training find a wide-open marketplace eager to hire. Jobs in the biomedical industry show an upward trend throughout the country, and particularly in California, home to more than 50 percent of these companies. According to a 2014 report from Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News, the industry expects significant job growth over the next decade in the areas of epidemiology, bioinformatics and genetic counseling, microbiology, biomedical engineering, and biomedical research. Nestled in the heart of the countrys second-largest cluster of bioscience businesses, APU offers students a distinct advantage that surpasses traditional internships and networking. A collaborative enterprise, this program partners APU with local bioscience companies, including Grifols Biologicals, Gilead Sciences, Johnson & Johnson, Allergan, and others. In addition to technical proficiency, APUs program also provides industry-critical skills, such as project and program management, communication skills, teamwork, business ethics, and leadership, which produces graduates who are productive employees on the first day of hire in a corporate setting.

Open to students and professionals with bachelors degrees in molecular or cellular biology, biochemistry, applied mathematics, statistics, engineering, or computer science, the M.S. in Biotechnology offers a unique approach to the field through the lens of Christian faith and imparts a clear understanding of how believers can participate in and provide guidance to the industry in a way that advances science and glorifies God.

Posted: June 12, 2017

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New Master's Program Prepares Leaders in Biotechnology - Azusa Pacific University

= By ANGELA OKETCH More by this Author 3 hoursago

The chemicals that farmers spray on their crops in form of pesticides to kill pests and prevent diseases have always been a bone of contention, with researchers trying to find safer alternatives. A new variety of rice that fights multiple pathogens with no effect on the yield of the crop, is thus a welcome relief for both farmers and scientists.

The discovery is based on a study of the plants immune system. Plants use receptors on the outside of their cells to identify molecules that signal a microbial invasion, and respond by releasing antimicrobial compounds. Therefore, identifying genes that kickstart this immune response yields disease-resistant plants.

Just like sick humans who are unproductive at work, plants grow poorly and produce unfavourable yields when their immune systems are overloaded. For a long time, scientists have focused on the NPR1 gene from a small, woody plant called Arabidopsis thaliana, to boost the immune systems of rice, wheat, tomatoes and apples.

However, NPR1 is not very useful for agriculture because it has negative effects on plants. To make it useful, researchers needed a better gene that would activate the immune response only when the plant is under attack. Rice with the gene was able to combat rice blast which often causes an estimated 30 per cent loss of rice crop worldwide, every year.

A segment of DNA called the TBF1 cassette acted as a control switch for the plants immune response. When the TBF1 cassette from the Arabidopsis genome was copied and pasted alongside and in front of the NPR1 gene in rice plants, it resulted in a strain of rice that could fend off offending pathogens without causing stunted growth seen in previously engineered crops.

The researchers tested the superiority of engineered rice over regular rice by inoculating crop leaves with the bacterial pathogens that cause rice blight and leaf streak, as well as the fungus responsible for blast disease. Whereas the infections spread on the leaves of wild rice plants, the engineered plants confined the invaders to a small area.

The researchers say this innovation could come in handy in the developing world where farmers with no access to fungicide often lose their entire crop to disease. The study was published in Nature.

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Genetic engineering boosts immunity against crop disease - Daily Nation

BBC News

Arthritis sufferers 'waiting longer' in Wales, figures show BBC News More needs to be done to help people in Wales living with rheumatoid arthritis, an expert has said. New figures suggest an increase in the number of people sent to see a specialist because of pain. Nearly half a million people live with the illness in ... and more »

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Arthritis sufferers 'waiting longer' in Wales, figures show - BBC News

June 12, 2017 David Merryman, associate professor of biomedical engineering, and his team discovered that a rheumatoid arthritis drug holds promise for treating heart valve calcification. Credit: Vanderbilt University

The first drug to treat calcification of heart valves may be one originally designed for rheumatoid arthritis.

Today (June 12) in Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association, Vanderbilt University researchers published findings that the druga monoclonal antibody known as SYN0012shows promise in keeping heart valve leaflets supple. About a quarter of Americans suffer hardening of the valves by age 65 and about half by 85, and the only treatment is surgical replacement.

"Very elderly patients' bodies can't handle that," said Cyndi Clark, research assistant professor of biomedical engineering and the first author on the paper. "I hope to see an earlier treatment option available within the next decade."

The culprit in the condition, called aortic valve stenosis, is cadherin-11, a binding protein necessary for normal wound healing. Fibroblasts, the most common cell in connective tissue, produce it to ensure cuts and broken bones reconnect, and heart valves are composed of this type of cell. As hearts age and lose elasticity, the fibroblasts become overactive, producing mass amounts of cadherin-11 until the three thin leaflets that make up aortic valves become virtually immobile. The heart pumps harder in an attempt to push blood through the valve, causing the chambers of the heart to enlarge, leading to heart failure if the valve isn't replaced.

The rheumatoid arthritis drug, an anti-inflammatory, physically binds to cadherin-11 (CDH-11) on the surface of cells so that they can't bind together.

"Aortic valve stenosis, even though it involves only a little piece of tissue, has a catastrophic effect on the heart," said W. David Merryman, associate professor of biomedical engineering. "The antibody we're working with blocks fibroblasts from becoming the active type that leads to disease. It keeps them from becoming inflamed.

"We believe there is potential for using this drug at the first sign of valve disease to prevent the progression. You likely cannot reverse the damage, but we believe the drug can prevent it."

Common disease claims lives

About 750,000 Americans per year suffer heart attacks, and those plus all other varieties of heart disease are the No. 1 killers in America. Surgeons can replace damaged valves with ones made from either pig or cow tissue or with mechanical versions, said Vanderbilt cardiologist and Assistant Professor of Medicine Mike Baker. Physicians' only option is to monitor calcifying valves once they're detected and then operate when symptoms appear, he said.

"Once the patient becomes symptomatic, they start running a significant risk of heart failure or even death," Baker said. "The exciting thing about this drug's potential is that it could allow us to consider a strategy of prevention, as we do with other forms of heart diseaselike lowering cholesterol or using ACE inhibitors. We don't have any interventions for aortic valve stenosis that slow its progression."

The drug is in human clinical trials for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. After those are complete, Merryman hopes to gain permission to run clinical trials for uses in heart valve disease.

Fluke leads to potential cure

Merryman's research into CDH-11 dates back to 2013, when two of his Ph.D. students compared two studies of heart valve cellular responses that came to completely different conclusions. One found that a chemical compound caused valve fibroblasts to become active, similar to what is observed during valve disease, but the other study indicated that the same compound prevented the cells from calcifying, indicating that a key piece of the valve disease puzzle was missing. They realized that the teams behind those studies were inadvertently turning CDH-11 production on and off, affecting the outcome.

The Ph.D. students obtained heart valves preserved from surgeries at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and found that patients suffering from calcification had, in some cases, 50 times as much CDH-11 present in their valves as patients without the condition. They completed another study that showed a NOTCH1 genetic mutation likely ensured those carrying it eventually would suffer from heart valve disease because it leads to CDH-11 overproduction.

Explore further: Discovery of a key regulatory gene in cardiac valve formation

More information: Circulation (2017). DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.117.027771

Journal reference: Circulation

Provided by: Vanderbilt University

A new study shows that a hybrid molecular imaging system unites three imaging modalities to map the composition of dangerous arterial plaques before they rupture and induce a major cardiac event. The research was presented ...

A study by the University of Birmingham has revealed a treatment gap in patients suffering from a heart condition that causes an irregular or abnormally fast heartbeat.

Researchers have long sought ways to harness the body's immune system to treat disease, especially cancer. Now, scientists have found that the immune system may be triggered to treat atherosclerosis and possibly other metabolic ...

Seventy per cent of readings from home blood pressure monitors are unacceptably inaccurate, which could cause serious implications for people who rely on them to make informed health decisions, new UAlberta research reveals.

(HealthDay)Adoption of four healthy lifestyle behaviors is associated with increased lifespan for men and women, according to a study published online May 31 in the Journal of Internal Medicine.

Heart disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide, yet the few available treatments are still mostly unsuccessful once the heart tissue has suffered damage. Mammalian hearts are actually able to regenerate and repair ...

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Drug developed for arthritis could be first to stop heart valve calcification - Medical Xpress

Dear Doctor: A friend suggested I try MSM crystals for arthritis. What are they, and do they work? If they do, where can I find them?

Dear Reader: Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) is an organic sulfur-containing compound naturally found in plants such as Brussels sprouts, garlic, asparagus, kale, beans and wheat germ. It can also be found in horsetail, an herbal remedy. MSM, which has been touted as a treatment for arthritis, is related to a similar compound, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), that has been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties. MSM may have anti-inflammatory properties as well, but different from those associated with aspirin or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDs). Unlike DMSO, which is a liquid applied at room temperature, MSM is a white crystalline compound -- hence the reference to "crystals."

As for whether it works, let's look at the evidence. A 2011 study performed in Israel assessed its impact on 50 people with arthritis of the knee. Twenty-five patients took a placebo, while 25 took 1.125 grams of MSM three times per day for 12 weeks. At 12 weeks, symptoms had worsened by 14 percent in the placebo group, but had improved by 20 percent in the MSM group. Pain had increased by 9 percent in the placebo group, but had decreased by 21 percent in the MSM group. Note that in this 12-week study, users noted no side effects.

A 2006 study also assessed MSM's impact on people with arthritis of the knee, with 25 people receiving a placebo and the other 25 receiving a 3-gram dose of MSM twice a day. At 12 weeks, pain had decreased by 25 percent in the MSM group, and by 13 percent in the placebo group. The physical function of the knee also improved with the use of MSM, but stiffness improved only slightly as compared to the placebo. This higher dose of MSM was associated with the mild side effects of bloating and constipation. One interesting note: The study authors found no change in inflammatory markers with MSM.

Lastly, a 2004 study from India compared the use of MSM, the use of glucosamine, the use of a combination and the use of a placebo for arthritis of the knee. After 12 weeks, patients who took 500 milligrams of MSM three times a day reported a significant reduction in pain and swelling of the knee. This was also seen in the group who took glucosamine. Those who took the combination of both MSM and glucosamine reported an additive benefit in regard to pain and swelling.

Granted, these are small studies, but they do show a slight benefit from MSM, but even milder than from Tylenol or NSAIDs. In these studies, the medication was used every day for 12 weeks, so I would assume that you would have to take MSM daily for a long period to see the benefit.

Excerpt from:
Organic compound MSM could help with arthritis pain | | thetandd.com - The Times and Democrat

A Chinese informant for the Central Intelligence Agency was shot in front of colleagues in the courtyard of a government building, reports The New York Times. Chinas government, according to former American officials, executed at least a dozen supposed CIA sources from the end of 2010 through 2012.

Beijings Global Times, a semi-official tabloid, calls the reporting of the courtyard killing a purely fabricated story, most likely a piece of American-style imagination based on ideology, but the publication, controlled by the authoritative Peoples Daily, did not deny the New York papers report of the other executions.

The Peoples Republic of China has very little compunction about killing its citizens. There is no question about that. The range of victimsfrom supposedly hardened spies to infants barely out of the wombis stunning and should be taken into account by Washington whenever it deals with Beijing.

We start with babies born without permits issued by population control officials.

Mao Hengfeng heard the piercing cries of her baby after a forced abortion. Yet instead of being able to hold her newborn child, veteran journalist Verna Yu reports, she watched helplessly while her baby was drowned in a bucket.

The baby was alive, I could hear the baby cry, Mao said. They killed my baby. Mao was also forced by family planning officials to undergo a hysterectomy. She had been seven-and-a-half months pregnant at the time.

Her baby was killed a quarter century ago, but the practice continues today. In todays China, under the Communist rule, says blind activist Chen Guangcheng, the government can put their hand into your body, grab your baby out of your womb, and kill your baby in your face. Chen talks of a war zone created by family planning officials.

Forced abortions occur as late as the ninth month, according to Reggie Littlejohn, founder and president of Womens Rights Without Frontiers, in 2009 testimony before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the U.S. Congress (PDF). Chinese methods of infanticide include puncturing the skulls and injecting alcohol into the brains of full-term fetuses to kill them during labor, she testified.

Littlejohn appended a translation of a Chinese document labeled Best Practices, Infanticide, issued to handle the question, What if the infant is still alive after induced labor?

This is the hallmark of communistic governments: the peacetime mass killings of their own citizens, Littlejohn told The Daily Beast.

China, since the beginning of 2016, has generally permitted couples to have two children, a relaxation of the notorious One-Child Policy, in place since 1979. Yet the requirement that couples obtain birth permits and the other coercive rules remain in place.

And that, unfortunately, means gendercide. As Susan Yoshihara, senior vice president for research at the Center for Family and Human Rights, pointed out in comments to me, brutal Chinese family planning policy has led to the direct and indirect killing of tens of millions of innocent Chinese baby girls just because they are girls.

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Almost as grisly is organ harvesting. Dr. Jacob Lavee, president of the Israel Society of Transplantation, told PBS NewsHour that in 2005 one of his patients was promised a heart transplant in China two weeks ahead of time.

If a patient was promised to undergo a heart transplant on a specific date, Lavee said, this could only mean that thethose who promised that they knew ahead of time when his potential donor would be dead.

China said in 2014 that, beginning the following year, it would no longer take organs from executed prisoners. But forced donations are continuing according to Ethan Gutmann, author of The Slaughter.

Gutmann, along with David Kilgour and David Matas, is co-author of an exhaustive June 2016 report. They maintain there are somewhere between 60,000 and 100,000 organ transplants a year, a number far in excess of donations available from voluntary sources.

Prisoners corroborate conclusions of the report. Wang Chunying and Yin Liping, Falun Gong practitioners, told PBS they were forced to take tests needed for matching organs with recipients. Gutmann says he has heard similar accounts from other prisoners.

China is not the only country with organ-transplant abuse, David Matas, a Canadian human rights lawyer, told the Toronto-based Globe and Mail. Whats different about China is its institutionalized, its state-run, its party-directed. Its not a few criminals in back alleys trying to make a fast buck. Kilgour, a former Canadian MP and now a human rights activist, implored the Chinese government to stop what he labeled an industrial-scale crime against humanity.

In China, you can get livers, kidneys, hearts, spleens, hands, breasts, arms, corneas, intestines, pancreases, thyroids, stem cells, hair, and bone marrow, and it looks like they come from more than just common criminals. China has used Falun Gong practitioners, Uighurs, Tibetans, and Christians as forced donors, the three authors charge.

Beijing called the charges groundless accusations after the U.S. House of Representatives last year passed a resolution on the practice.

Despite noticeable improvement in Chinese donor practices, the Chinese state looks like it is searching for a new source of organs. Forced organ harvesting of political dissidents began in the 90s, in Xinjiang, Gutmann told The Daily Beast. With the recent revelation from Human Rights Watchthat the Chinese authorities are comprehensively mapping Uighur DNAit is difficult to suppress the thought that Beijing has entered a new stage: not simply the murder of individual political dissidents but a slow-motion version of racial genocide.

But, in fact, China is still murdering political dissidents, even if the killings often are out of sight. In 2009, police said a 24-year-old prisoner, Li Qiaoming, died while playing hide-and-seek. Li, however, had been beaten to death, and this term suddenly became a common euphemism for official brutality.

Last year, Lei Yang, 29 years old and an environmental activist, died an hour after being taken into custody in the Chinese capital. Police blamed a heart attack. An autopsy revealed Lei choked on his own vomit.

These days, activists also disappear. Take 2015s 709 crackdown, so named because it began on July 9. Some 300 rights lawyers, legal assistants, and dissidents were swept up. A few of themZhao Wei and Wang Quanzhangare still missing. The 709 campaign, primarily directed at the legal profession, has been called the war on law and is widely seen as a sign of a growing intolerance of dissent under President Xi Jinping.

In China, there are countless allegations of police torture, abuse, and suspicious deaths, widely followed freelance journalist Paul Mooney tells The Daily Beast. The police, he says, are killing citizens with impunity. And as he points out, police power is growing and we can expect the situation to get worse and worse.

Many people call the country China. But we would understand it better if we thought of it as the Peoples Republic of Death.

Excerpt from:
China: Inside the People's Republic of Death - Daily Beast

One of the fastest growing causes of blindness around the world is an eye disease thats almost entirely preventable.

Diabetic retinopathy is a condition that occurs among diabetics when high blood sugar levels damage the retinal blood vessels, leading to complete vision impairment over time. The disease is a threat to those who have lived with diabetes for years, but it can be detected early and treated if patients are regularly screened.

Unfortunately, in India, which is home to over 69 million diabetics (as of 2015), regular eye examinations arent easy to come by, particularly outside big cities. While access to even basic healthcare is difficult, the problem is compounded by a serious shortage of trained ophthalmologists. So, some 45% of patients suffer from vision loss before theyre even diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy.

And thats where artificial intelligence comes in.

Specialist doctors are trained to diagnose the disease by analysing retinal photographs and looking for different types of lesions, such as microaneurysms or haemorrhages, that can indicate its severity. Last year, Google announced that it had taught an image-recognition algorithm how to detect signs of diabetic retinopathy using a dataset of 128,000 retinal photographs. In subsequent tests with other images, the algorithm managed to perform on par with a panel of ophthalmologists.

Since then, the project team has been working to validate the results with two hospital chains in India, Aravind Eye Care and Sankara Eye Hospital, and has recently completed initial clinical trials. Aravind even found the algorithm performing slightly better than its average ophthalmologist, Lily Peng, product manager at Google Research and a former nanoscientist and bioengineer, said during a talk earlier this year.

Now, Google is in the early stages of figuring out pilot deployments for the technology in India.

Machine learning has the capability of helping extend the reach of healthcare providers and bringing high quality care to everyone, especially rural and under-served communities where there is a shortage of experts, Peng told Quartz in an email.

Thats particularly important in India, where the condition is a major cause of preventable blindness. In 2014, a study by the All India Ophthalmological Society found that diabetic retinopathy was detected in nearly 22% of its sample of over 6,200 diabetic patients across the country. More importantly, signs of the condition were detected even in patients who hadnt yet experienced any vision impairment, suggesting that early screening is the one thing that could make a big difference in avoiding blindness.

As advanced as the diagnostic algorithm is, though, were still a long way from technology replacing doctors, even as AI and virtual reality are being increasingly incorporated into Indias healthcare sector. Peng notes that the successful adoption of the Google algorithm depends on healthcare providers who will need to adapt to handle an increase in patients as more people are diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy.

Machine learnings true potential will only be realised when deployed in partnership with healthcare providers, Peng said.

But as diabetes spreads, notably among low-income communities who can hardly afford medical care, the first order of business is still the matter of getting ordinary Indians through the door.

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A Google algorithm could help Indian diabetics avoid a disease that leads to blindness - Quartz