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The leading infectious-disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci recommends taking your vitamins now that school has started and flu season is nearing.

Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, gavean Instagram Live interview with the actress Jennifer Garner on Thursday in which he specifically suggested taking vitamin D and C supplements and said he took them himself.

"If you're deficient in vitamin D, that does have an impact on your susceptibility to infection.I would not mind recommending, and I do it myself, taking vitamin D supplements," he said. "The other vitamin that people take is vitamin C because it's a good antioxidant, so if people want to take a gram or so of vitamin C, that would be fine."

There's a large body of research supporting Fauci's recommendations. Studies suggest vitamin D and C are your best bet for supplementing immune health. However, many of the other products sold for this purpose are useless or worse.

Extensive evidence has linked vitamin D deficiency to greater risk of infection, particularly from respiratory diseases like COVID-19.

That's led many researchers to investigate the use of vitamin D supplements to help prevent or lessen the effects of the coronavirus. While the findings are somewhat contentious, since researchers don't fully understand if vitamin D supplements can cause better health outcomes, studies have consistently linked vitamin D deficiency to greater risk of severe infection.

And many people are deficient in vitamin D, especially while sheltering indoors during the pandemic or in darker winter months, since our bodies naturally produce the nutrient in response to sunlight.

People with darker skin may be particularly susceptible, since melanin can slow the process of producing vitamin D. As a result, there's evidence certain people could benefit from supplementing it.

Similarly, vitamin C is awell-documented antioxidant, and getting enough of it is crucial for a healthy immune system. It hasn't been shown to prevent disease, but there's some evidence it may make it easier for people to recover from illnesses such as the common cold.

However, neither of these supplements is a cure-all, and too much of either can have serious side effects.

Fauci still recommends masks, social distancing, and hand hygiene as the best practices for keeping yourself and others safe.

Aside from vitamin D and C, there's little evidence that pills, powders, plants, or potions can make a significant difference in warding off illness.

Garner asked if concerned parents could help boost children's immune systems by giving them more spinach, elderberry, or other supplements.

"The answer, to the dismay of many, is no," Fauci said.

Despite this, many products claim to boost your immune system. These are at best a waste of money and at worst can have harmful side effects.

Colloidal silver, for instance, is commonly touted to cure or prevent disease, but there's no evidence it works, and it can interfere with common medications, cause kidney damage, and even permanently turn your skin blue-gray.

Chlorine dioxide, advertised as "miracle mineral solution," is even more dangerous. Chemically speaking, the product is industrial bleach, and drinking it can cause liver failure, extremely low blood pressure, and other toxic effects.

More innocuously, many herbal remedies or vitamins are expensive, and there's no evidence they provide benefits to otherwise-healthy people.

As such, Fauci recommends ditching any other immune-boosting products, and science is on his side.

"Forget about them," he said. "Any of the other concoctions and herbs I would not do."

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Fauci says he takes vitamin D and C supplements, which boost immunity - Insider - INSIDER

MCLEAN, Va., Sept. 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --FARE (Food Allergy Research & Education), the world's largest private funder of food allergy research, has awarded a three-year, $15 million grant to the Food Allergy Science Initiative(FASI) at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard to support a three-year project "Untangling Neuroimmune Communications in Food Allergy." This grant was made possible by the support of FARE board member Christine Olsen and her husband Robert Small, with funds matched by FARE.

The interdisciplinary research team, led by world renowned immunologist, Ruslan Medzhitov, includes scientists from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University, Yale School of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Mount Sinai, and Rockefeller University.

Food allergies occur when the body's immune system mistakenly identifies a food protein as a threat and triggers a response. When the immune system then attacks the food, the resulting allergic reaction can cause mild, localized symptoms, or it can affect multiple organ systems in the potentially life-threatening reaction known as anaphylaxis. Once considered rare, food allergy has become increasingly common in recent decades and now affects one in 10, or 32 million, Americans, resulting in an emergency room visit once every three minutes in the U.S.

"Thirty-two million Americans currently live with potentially life-threatening food allergies, affecting up to 85 million families across the country every day, and while this number continues to climb, there is so much more we do not yet understand about the complexities of this disease," explains Bruce Roberts, Chief Research, Science and Innovation Officer of FARE. "This innovative project between FARE and FASIwill advance the field of food allergy research in exciting new directions that may reveal new potential targets for treatments."

Currently, diagnosing and treating food allergy is a major challenge: allergic reactions are the primary means of diagnosis, and treatment is limited to avoiding known allergy-causing foods and epinephrine injections, which are only administered once an allergic reaction has been triggered. Understanding the basic mechanisms that drive the allergic response to food is necessary for developing new treatments.

Using a suite of innovative molecular tools developed over the last decade, the project is structured around three primary goals:

"The interplay of the brain, the gut and the immune system is largely uncharted territory for researchers," Ruslan Medzhitov, director of FASI, principal investigator on the grant and the Sterling Professor of Immunobiology at the Yale School of Medicine as well as an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. "As we map these connections, we expect to find hidden details that no one has anticipated and leads for diagnostics and therapeutics that will ultimatelymake life safer and simpler for children and adults with food allergies."

FARE's grant to the Broad Institute will enable researchers to identify and explore how the brain, digestive system, and nervous system together examine foodin the gut and determine whether or notto trigger an allergic reaction. Understanding this crucial decision-pointis key to developing treatments someday that can stop an allergic reaction before it even happens.

This work will also address other important questions, including why some individuals can develop allergy-related antibodies to foods without having reaction symptoms and why symptoms vary so widely among allergic individuals, and even from one reaction to the next.

"We will likely uncover a potential treasure trove of clinically relevant insights," said Ramnik Xavier, one of the scientific leaders of FASI. "Once we know where the key players are positioned in healthy gut tissue, we can identify, understand and ultimately manage their organizational changes in food allergy." Xavier is a core institute member of the Broad Institute, director of the immunology program at Broadand member of the Department of Molecular Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

"We now strongly believe that understanding this interplay between the nervous and immune systems will lead us to the true culprits of food allergy and develop the diagnostics and treatments that will save lives," said Vijay Kuchroo, institute member of the Broad, the Samuel L. Wasserstrom Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, and senior scientist at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Kuchroo is also on the FASI scientific leadership team.

FASI supports foundational research that aims to transform the field of food allergy science and lead to new therapies and cures. We currently have a national network of scientists at leading labs working collaboratively on this mission. FASI convenes researchers from a variety of disciplines, broadening beyond traditional allergy researchers to include other fields such as gastroenterology, neuroscience, engineering and immunology. Bringing together such a diverse team of specialists, many of whom have been instrumental in pioneering new technologies like single-cell sequencing, will help researchers find innovative solutions that overcome the fundamental hurdles of food allergy research.

About FAREFARE (Food Allergy Research & Education) is the world's leading food allergy advocacy organization and the largest private funder of food allergy research. Our mission is to improve the quality of life and the health of individuals with food allergies, and to provide them hope through the promise of new treatments. FARE is transforming the future of food allergy through innovative initiatives that will lead to increased awareness, new and improved treatments and prevention strategies, effective policies and legislation and novel approaches to managing the disease. For more information, please visit http://www.foodallergy.org. To join FARE's transformative five-year fundraising and awareness campaign, Contains: Courage, supporting families living with food allergies and educating ALL communities about the disease, visit http://www.foodallergy.org/containscourage.

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FARE To Grant $15m To The Broad Institute Of MIT And Harvard To Decipher Brain-Gut Connections In Food Allergy - PRNewswire

Few know about James Baldwin's years spent in Turkey. "I can't breathe, I have to look from the outside," he once remarked when asked why in 1961 he began visiting Istanbul on and off for a decade. Turkey offered him a space to escape from the racism and homophobia he experienced in the United States, but also to reflect more deeply on who he was.

He once reminisced about eating lunch with Turkish filmmaker Sedat Pakay and Greek actress Irene Pappas, who commented to Pakay, "Look at those eyes, 400 years of oppression in them."

The Ottoman enslavement of Greeks and Armenians and Mustafa Kemal Atatrk's genocide and expulsion of them in the early 20th century are vastly distinct phenomena from the transatlantic slave trade and Jim Crow laws in the U.S. But both of our countries have constructed myths to conceal these ugly realities that they are founded upon.

"It is, of course, in the very nature of a myth that those who are its victims and, at the same time, its perpetrators, should, by virtue of these two facts, be rendered unable to examine the myth, or even to suspect, much less recognize, that it is a myth which controls and blasts their lives."

Baldwin continues to say in his 1964 essay "Nothing Personal" that this "blindness," this willful forgetfulness of one's history and the injustices committed, is a cause of "spiritual disaster," not only for the oppressed, but even more so for the oppressor.

When I heard the news about Hagia Sophia being converted from a museum to a mosque, I instantly thought back to Baldwin's words. Turkey's insistence on denying the 400 years of enslavement, the millions of lives killed, and suppression of the Orthodox Christian community is a denial of Turkey's identity.

Turkey's culture is a rich tapestry weaving together the threads of the Seljuks and Ottomans, the Greeks, Armenians, and Turks, Christians and Muslims, people of all different shades and skin tones, leaders who have committed heinous atrocities and who have led the country to new heights. To deny any of the complexities and nuances of this history is to blind oneself to the reality of what it means to be Turkish.

I remember my first time visiting Hagia Sophia. I was with my grandfather, who was born in Istanbul to Greek and Armenian parents. This was his first time back in 35 years. He presented his native city to me with pride, tinged with a hint of anguish. He complained to me after our first night there of nightmares of being attacked for being an "infidel."

And yet, Istanbul remains his city. His mixture of Greek, Armenian and Turkish blood, his Orthodox Christian faith, has left its indelible mark on the city, and will continue to do so ... even if the majority of Armenians and Greeks were murdered, and the remainder left along with him in the '50s, and the Christians that make up less than 1% of Istanbul's population including the ecumenical patriarch continue to face restrictions.

The virtue of leaving Hagia Sophia as a museum is that it allows people to feel that complex mix of emotions pride and sadness, appreciation and shame that the space evokes. The Byzantine mosaics and Islamic calligraphy speak to the value of both religions and the ethnic groups that adhered to each, as well as the injustices that have been perpetrated throughout the centuries not only Muslim against Christian, but also Christian against Muslim and Christian against Christian (our tour guided pointed to a red mark on the wall, claiming that it was the bloody handprint of a Catholic in the Fourth Crusade).

The systemic denial of the Armenian Genocide and expulsion of Christians continues to be a point of contention to this day. I recounted the story of my great grandmother's escape from Izmir to the island of Chios during the expulsion of 1922 to a new Turkish friend I met in college, hoping that sharing this with her could be an opportunity for healing and reconciliation. "There was no genocide," she proclaimed, irritated with my presumption. "It's all propaganda from the American government."

"So then why did my great grandmother see Turkish soldiers raping and mutilating women as she was running to the port?"

"It's not the Turkish government's fault that some soldiers decided to do those things on their own."

I felt pity. Such blindness can hardly be liberating. Thus my concern for those who would be praying the following afternoon in the newly minted mosque. Can one freely commune with God Allah while being in denial of reality? Can Muslims and Christians love and dialogue with each other, seek the Mystery of the Divine together, while shielding our faces from the truth?

That Friday at 4 p.m. EST, I attended the Akathist service at my family's Greek Orthodox parish, joined spiritually by other Orthodox, Catholic, and hopefully Muslim communities, to beg God for the gifts of repentance and reconciliation, and of the honesty and courage to embrace reality, to embrace history, in all of its grace and ugliness.

During the service, I thought about Baldwin's words in "Nothing Personal." I thought about the blindness of the slave traders to their own humanity, their own need for love and intimacy, which drove them to dehumanize other human beings, and in the process, dehumanize themselves. It was their insecure attachment to wealth, power and complacency that drove them to perpetuate this lie, this false divide between brothers and sisters, by any means necessary. Baldwin recognizes, however, that this blindness, this affinity for mendacity, is not only an American phenomenon. It's a temptation that humans throughout the world are subject to.

We live by lies. And not only, for example, about race whatever, by this time, in this country, or, indeed, in the world, this word may mean but about our very natures. The lie has penetrated to our most private moments, and the most secret chambers of our hearts. Nothing more sinister can happen, in any society, to any people. And when it happens, it means that the people are caught in a kind of vacuum between their present and their past the romanticized, that is, the maligned past, and the denied and dishonored present. It is a crisis of identity. And in such a crisis, at such a pressure, it becomes absolutely indispensable to discover, or invent the two words, here, are synonyms the stranger, the barbarian, who is responsible for our confusion and our pain. Once he is driven out destroyed then we can be at peace: those questions will be gone. Of course, those questions never go, but it has always seemed much easier to murder than to change. And this is really the choice with which we are confronted now.

The prayers of the Akathist service brought me back to the roots of this blindness which are as old as the fall. But it also placed me in front of a promise, a glint of hope, that is born from entrusting our fears, sins, and woundedness to the New Adam and Eve.

The news of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's decision to convert the Kariye Museum (formerly the Holy Savior church) in Chora to a mosque brought me back to Baldwin's words. One who is determined to remain blind to reality, to perpetuate a division between us and them, must continuously strive to eliminate history. I continue to offer my prayer to the Divine Healer of wounds and to his Mother, ever more fervently, and united more deeply in solidarity with all of those whose stories face the threat of erasure from history.

[Stephen Adubato studied moral theology at Seton Hall University and currently teaches religion in New Jersey. He also blogs at Cracks in Postmodernity on the Patheos Catholic Channel.]

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James Baldwin, blindness and Hagia Sophia - National Catholic Reporter

That institutional racism has tragically been a part of our national landscape during extended periods in our history is a sad, well-established fact. Yet obsessive reminders of that negative fact and blindness to the positive institutional and individual progress achieved over the years is wrong. It is, in fact, a constant disappointment and frustration to those who refuse to adopt such a negative, pessimistic view of our nation and its people.

A recent letter from Bill Livingston (Opinions of the Readers, Sept. 10, 2020) detailed the discriminatory conditions imposed on black veterans returning after WWII. All tragically true, but ancient history. In recounting those past injustices, the implication is that nothing has changed and that we must continue to atone for the crimes of those who went before us. Throughout my 30 years of Air Force service starting in 1955, I served with innumerable productive minority members, e.g. my first wing commander, one of my fellow U-2 pilots, et al. Good grief! The current USAF Chief of Staff, General Charles Q. Brown, is African-American. Times have fundamentally changed.

In the same Opinions of the Readers column cited above, William Morton Jr. mentions he just learned about white supremacy from a recently-published book which causes him to gratuitously assert that he has a better understanding of how systemic racism works and how it is still present and firmly entrenched in many peoples lives.

Once again, our anger and disgust over the wrongs of the past should not lead us to make false, damaging assertions about the present. To do so, degrades national and societal unity on the one hand, and amounts to virtue signaling on the other.

Enough with the identity politics. Lets all march together as proud Americans!

Richard G. Woodhull Jr.

Brevard

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Fixating On The Past Corrupts The Future - The Transylvania Times

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Swiss drugmaker Novartis is pictured at the French company's headquarters in Rueil-Malmaison near Paris, France, April 22, 2020. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

ZURICH (Reuters) - Novartiss Beovu matched Regenerons Eylea in vision clarity scores for a blindness-causing eye disease, the Swiss drugmaker said on Monday, after early safety stumbles for the medicine in another condition caused disappointing early sales.

In addition to proving non-inferior to Eylea in visual acuity in diabetic macular edema (DME) patients after a year of treatment, Novartis also underscored Beovus less-frequent dosing. More than half of those who got Beovu stayed on a once-every-three-months dosing schedule, it said in a statement, with Eylea patients dosed every two months.

Novartis said it will assess next steps in getting approval for Beovu in DME.

This data confirms our strong belief in Beovu as a potential therapy for DME patients, said Dirk Sauer, who leads Novartis Pharma Ophthalmologys drug development.

Beovu was approved in February for age-related macular degeneration, another blindness causing condition, but Novartis was forced just weeks later to launch an external safety review after the American Society of Retinal Specialists (ASRS) raised concerns about rare cases of sight-threatening retinal vasculitis or retinal vascular occlusion.

While Beovu remains on sale and Novartis has promoted its favourable risk-benefit profile, the European Medicines Agency on Monday followed U.S. regulators in updating its safety label to include a special warning urging patients that experience such inflammatory events to discontinue use.

Novartis, whose Chief Financial Officer Harry Kirsch in July said the sluggish Beovu launch was among factors that weighed on sales growth, is continuing to examine the cause of such adverse events, and how best to treat them when they arise.

Reporting by John Miller; editing by Thomas Seythal

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Novartis aims to expand Beovu use after safety fears hurt launch - Reuters

Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director WHO South-East Asia Region, felicitating the country at the virtual Regional Committee Session of WHO South-East Asia Region. and said: Myanmars multi-pronged approach promoting access to good hygiene infrastructure and clean water, strengthening eye care system, and complete community buy-in have enabled the country to ensure that people of all ages can now look towards a trachoma-free future.

Myanmar joins Nepal in the WHO South-East Asia Region and 12 countries globally to achieve this feat. Though trachoma is preventable, blindness from trachoma is irreversible. Trachoma continues to be a public health problem in 44 countries and is responsible for the blindness of about 1.9 million people.

In 1964 the Ministry of Health and Sports in Myanmar had initiated a trachoma control project with support from WHO and UNICEF. The community-based interventions to eliminate trachoma consisted of surgical treatment, topical antibiotic treatment and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and health education promoting behavior change to decrease transmission. The program further expanded to include accessible interventions in rural areas.

In 2005, trachoma was responsible for 4% of all cases of blindness in Myanmar. By 2018, the prevalence of trachoma was down to a mere 0.008% with trachoma no longer a public health problem.

In a virtual event, the Regional Director presented a citation for trachoma elimination to Myanmars Minister of Health and Sports, Dr Myint Htwe.

Sri Lanka was felicitated for eliminations of rubella and mother-to-child transmission of HIV and Syphilis. The Regional Director presented citations for the two achievements to the Minister of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine, Ms Pavithra Wanniarachchi.

Dr Khetrapal Singh said, Strong leadership and commitment of the Government, support from partners, and the dedication and commitment of the health care workers and communities in the country have contributed to these successes in Sri Lanka.

Like Myanmar defeated trachoma, the Maldives was felicitated for eliminating rubella. On the countrys success, the Regional Director said, this commendable achievement has been possible by the strong leadership and commitment of the Government, sustained collaboration with partners, and active support of health-care workers, volunteers and communities at all levels of health services. The citation was received by Ms Aishath Samiya, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Maldives.

Home to one-fourth of the worlds population, the Region has eight flagship priority programmes eliminate measles and rubella by 2023; prevent and control non-communicable diseases through multisectoral policies and plans, with a focus on best buys; accelerate the reduction of maternal, neonatal and under-five mortality; continue progressing towards universal health coverage with a focus on human resources for health and essential medicines; further strengthen national capacity for preventing and combating antimicrobial resistance; scale-up capacity development in emergency risk management in countries; finish the task of eliminating neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and other diseases on the verge of elimination; accelerate efforts to end TB by 2030. The Region has been making remarkable progress around the flagships and beyond.

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Myanmar won against trachoma: the WHO congratulates for this result - Emergency-Live

Entrance to the Walt Disney Company in Burbank, Calif.(Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)Disney might be the first U.S. company to thank entities involved in perpetrating the Uyghur genocide, but its not the first to willfully ignore the situation.

When Attorney General Bill Barr spoke at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in July, he criticized the entertainment industry for its alleged cooptation by the Chinese Communist Party. Chinese government censors dont need to say a word, because Hollywood is doing their work for them, he said.

Just two months later, a new controversy has proven him right. Disneys live-action remake of Mulan had already attracted criticism in recent months for its stars endorsement of the Hong Kong governments crackdown on pro-democracy protests. But Disneys latest PR nightmare is worse by an order of magnitude. In fact, its not about censorship: The films credits include thanks for a handful of CCP entities in the Xinjiang region, the site of Beijings ongoing genocide of the Uyghur people there.

Social-media users were the first to point out that Disney thanks the CCPs publicity department in Xinjiang, as well as agencies in the city of Turpan. Among these entities was the Turpan Municipality Public Security Bureau, which was added to a U.S. government blacklist last October for activities that are contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States. (Filming took place before its addition to the list, though.) And the CCPs Xinjiang publicity department is responsible for diffusing propaganda that convinces outsiders the genocide taking place there is anything but that.

The Mulan production team, according to a profile in Architectural Digest, visited the region prior to filming. The films director also visited in September 2017, as the Washington Posts Isaac Stone Fish notes. But just months before that trip, Chen Quanguo, Beijings top official in Xinjiang, had already began the mass-detention campaign that has since swept up well over a million people. Chens efforts amount to a systematic attempt to stamp out Turkic minorities and the Islamic faith in Xinjiang using brutal gulags, mass surveillance everywhere else, and a forced-sterilization program to drive down Uyghur birthrates (efforts that constitute genocide). Disneys partner the Turpan Security Bureau is complicit in these atrocities.

Disney has apparently turned a blind eye to all of this. Even granting the company the most generous benefit of the doubt, if the crew was unaware of what was happening in 2017, its unfathomable that such ignorance could have persisted through the beginning of the films production in 2018. Those working on the film might even have seen the camps: On Twitter, Shawn Zhang notes that if the crew took highway G312 to Shanshan desert where the filmed, they could see at least 7 re-education camps.

Disney might be the first U.S. company to thank entities involved in perpetrating the Uyghur genocide, but its not the first to willfully ignore the situation. Who can forget the revelation that McKinsey held a massive corporate retreat just four miles from one of the concentration camps? Or that the NBA operated a training center in Xinjiang that, unsurprisingly, drew its own human-rights complaints? But the most lurid examples ignore the most widespread normalization of the abuses by multinational companies: Uyghur forced labor plays a massive role in the global textile industry, allegedly implicating numerous well-known brands, such as Nike, Adidas, and Uniqlo.

In each of these cases, business leaders weighed the potential downsides of doing business with Xinjiang-based entities. Disneys decision to move forward with production shows how executives evaluated that potential tradeoff. That they are willing to accept some level of complicity in the Xinjiang genocide is not news. Just last fall, then-Disney CEO Bob Iger said that the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong is not something we should engage in a public manner because it might harm the company.

But this episode nonetheless offers a couple of lessons. The U.S. government has made significant progress toward curtailing companies involvement in tainted supply chains. In a supply-chain business advisory issued July 1, the Trump administration warned businesses of the coming crackdown, writing that entities with business with Xinjiang ties should be aware of reputational, economic, and, in certain instances, legal, risks associated with certain types of involvement.

The Trump administration also promulgated new sanctions against a Chinese paramilitary group that facilitates forced labor, and on Monday evening, the New York Times reported that the White House was considering new rules that would effectively ban the import of all cotton and tomato products from Xinjiang.

But the U.S. governments warnings about customs enforcement and export controls dont precisely implicate companies such as Disney. Its not as if the Trump administration would prevent the company from offering Mulan for streaming and download. For companies in certain industries, the odds of their products facing heavier regulation is particularly terrifying. But while the addition of several Turpan-based government entities to the Commerce Departments blacklist would prevent companies from cooperating with them in the future, Disney could still seek partners in Xinjiang untouched by the current sanctions. The risk to companies that act similarly is merely reputational right now.

The furor over Mulan is a reminder of the other industries that can be of use to the Chinese regime. No doubt the latest Disney film is a subtle propaganda coup, showing that American producers can shoot in Xinjiang as if no genocide were taking place. And its not just film. To this day, Twitter factchecks the U.S. president, but affixes no such label to official Chinese accounts that spread propaganda whitewashing the Uyghur genocide. Chinese officials on the platform are permitted to cast doubt on the research and reputations of those who have worked to reveal the CCPs Xinjiang crimes to the rest of the world. Beijings genocide-denial campaign has a global reach and that is, in no small part, thanks to American ingenuity.

Since Mulans release this past weekend, Disneys reputation has certainly taken a hit. Disney has revealed that its willing to debase itself in pursuit of the Chinese market. But is this revelation enough to change the calculus of American businesses willing to tune out whats happening in Xinjiang? Only if consumers make Disney pay.

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Disney Should Suffer for Willful Blindness to Chinese-Government Atrocities - National Review

While there is no cure for blindness and macular degeneration, scientists have accelerated the process to find a cure by visualizing the inner workings of the eye and its diseases at the cellular level.

In an effort led by UW Medicine, researchers successfully modified the standard process of optical coherence tomography (OCT) to detect minute changes in response to light in individual photoreceptors in the living eye.

The results were published Sept. 9 in Science Advances.

We have now accelerated the life cycle of vision restoration, said lead author Vimal Prabhu Pandiyan, a ophthalmology researcherat the University of Washington School of Medicine.

The study was fundedin partby the National Eye Institutes Audacious Goals Initiative, which embraces bold ideas in helping people to see better.

The OCT modifications outlined in the study will help researchers who want to test therapiessuch as stem cells or gene therapy to treat retinal disease. They now have the tools to zoom in on the retina to evaluate whether the therapy is working.

Corresponding author Ramkumar Sabesan, a UW assistant research professor of ophthalmology, said the only wayto objectively measure the eye currently is to look at a wide retinal area. Sabesan said researchers currently can attach electrodes on the cornea but it captures a large area with around 1 million cells. Now they are talking about nanometers, or one billionth of a meter a small fraction of the size of a cell, providing orders of magnitude improvement.

Since photoreceptors are the primary cells affected in retinal generation and the target cells of many treatments, noninvasive visualization of their physiology at high resolution is invaluable, the researchers wrote.

Cone photoreceptors are the building blocks of sight, capturinglight and funneling information to the other retinal neurons. They are a key ingredient in how we process images and patterns of light falling on the retina.

Optical coherence tomography has been around since the 1990s. In this study, researchers used OCT with adaptive optics, line-scanning and phase-resolved acquisition to deliver the concept of Thomas Youngs interference to the human eye. With the ability to zoom in on the retina at high speeds, they found that cone photoreceptors deform at the scale of nanometers when they first capture light and begin the process of seeing.

As Sabesan explained: You can imagine a picture that looks visually and structurally normal. But when we interrogate the inner working of the retina at a cellular scale, we may detect a dysfunction sooner than what other modalities can do. A doctor then can prescribe medication to intervene early or follow the time-course of its repair via gene therapy or stem cell therapy in the future.

We will now have a way to see if these therapies are acting in the way they should, Sabesan said.

The study also involved researchers at Stanford University, University of California,Berkeley, and University of California, Riverside.

The study was funded by NIH grants U01EY025501, EY027941, EY029710, EY025501, and P30EY001730; Research to Prevent Blindness Career Development Award; Foundation Fighting Blindness; Murdock Charitable Trust; Burroughs Welcome Fund Careers at the Scientific Interfaces; and Unrestricted grant from the Research to Prevent Blindness.

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Seeing the eye like never before | Newsroom - UW Medicine Newsroom

A few doctors performing an eye procedure.

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For the first time in the world, CRISPR, the powerful gene editing tool that can cut and paste DNA, has been used inside a human body. Scientists at the Casey Eye Institute at Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, have administered a CRISPR-based drug to treat a form of congenital blindness, according to two biotech companies that created the treatment.

This dose is truly a landmark event for science, medicine, and most of all for people suffering from eye disease, said Cynthia Collins, president and CEO of Editas Medicine, a Massachusetts-based gene editing company.

This state-of-the-art clinical trial aims to test an experimental treatment for the congenital condition known as Leber 10 congenital amaurosis. The disease is caused by a faulty gene that results in blindness from birth or during the first months of life. The evil affects one in every 40,000 children born. There is currently no approved treatment option.

The first patient in the clinical trial received a dose of the experimental drug called AGN-151587 through an injection into the eye. The idea is that the drug takes the CRISPR tool directly to the cells of the eye that are affected by the evil eye. CRISPR is able to find its way into those cells and correct the gene by editing the DNA to remove the mutation.

The editing done by CRISPR is permanent, which means that patients need a single dose of the drug.

The clinical trial is expected to involve 18 patients in total and will analyze the use of different doses of the drug, to refine how much is needed to reach the goal of reversal of blindness without causing side effects. There is little information about the first patient of this treatment; it is not known when the procedure took place.

CRISPR has also been at the center of the controversy regarding gene editing. In November 2018, Chinese scientist He Jiankui revealed that there was created the first human embryos edited with CRISPR and that resulted in the birth of twin girls. The scientific community was outraged by Hes work, which bypassed various ethical and regulatory approvals.

Scientists have been working to refine the ability of gene editing tools like CRISPR so that they can edit DNA accurately and effectively. In October of last year, a team of researchers from Harvard University presented a cutting-edge technology known as base editing the editing of bases.

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CRISPR is used for the first time within the human body - The Bulletin Time

Zomatos recent move to provide up to ten days of leave a year for its women and transgender employees while they are on their periods has created a stir. Even though the ten-day period leave does not even amount to one day a month, when periods generally occur for about four days every month, for all twelve months of the year, the move is still seen to be controversial in some quarters.

Barkha Dutts somewhat unexpected tweet on August 11, critical of Zomatos move was met with many strong disagreements and some equally strong agreements.

The views expressed in support of the move argued that some womens experiences with periods can be very painful, and the move accounts for variations in period pain experiences.

Further, some questioned the comparisons made between womens work behaviour (including leave from work behaviour) and their male counterparts. They asked why should womens work behaviour be judged according to that of male behaviour, especially when they are biologically different.

Also read: A Reminder: Periods Dont Stop During a Pandemic

Relatedly, some have implicitly or explicitly emphasised equity rather than equality. Another article has argued in support of the move, stating that women are socialised into negating and suppressing period pain, and Zomatos move is an opportunity for us to finally take womens bodies, and their (dis)comfort at the workplace, seriously.

While there is merit in all of these perspectives, I would like to add to the discussion the dimension of public infrastructure provisioning, particularly a dearth of public toilets.

Accessible and clean public toilets are few and far between in India, adding another aspect to the handling of periods. This is especially relevant to women in jobs where the workplace is on the road and doesnt quite exist as a singular specified space that comes with its amenities like that of a toilet.

While toilets have rapidly been constructed, under various government schemes such as the Swachh Bharat Mission, even in Delhi, a majority of them remain unusable or dirty, according to the governments own assessment.

The dearth of clean, accessible and safe public toilets affects all women on their periods in jobs on the road, independent of the pain levels. Womens period leave, arising from such a dearth, is then akin to forced leave, and a result of the failure of public infrastructure provisioning, the cost of which women have disproportionately been bearing.

Also read: #PeriodTalk: High Time We Challenge the Secrecy Around Menstruation

The importance of clean and usable toilets, especially during periods, is obvious, and is also documented. A 2018 NDTV report stated that nearly 23 million girls drop out of school annually in India owing to inadequate menstrual hygiene facilities, like toilets.

One criticism of Zomatos move is that by providing for leave for women, women workers are being made less attractive to hire as compared to their male counterparts, and as such the move actually disadvantages women by impeding their employment.

However, this argument completely discounts the supply-side, where period pain and difficulty in handling periods in the absence of clean and accessible toilets can be factors that discourage women from entering such jobs.

The low and dropping female labour force participation rates in India underscore the need to retain women in the workforce.

With growing urbanisation, logistics services, such as food delivery, offer an important potential area of employment for women. Taking measures which strengthen the retention of women in (logistics) jobs, such as Zomato has, is important, not for the women alone, but also for the economy, and through its positive spillover effects, for those around them (such as better nutritional outcomes of their children; lower drop-out rates from schools of brothers; and marriage at a later age of younger sisters).

Also read: The Sexual Autonomy of Indias Muslim Women Is a Political Prisoner at Best

At the end, Barkha Dutt is exceptional, in several (admirable) ways, but do we want to create such conditions that women need to be exceptional to be able to do a job? I for one cannot but welcome Zomatos move enough, if for nothing else, then to prompt a discussion on periods and the many issues intersecting with it period pain, access and awareness about menstrual hygiene, menstrual taboos, dearth of related public infrastructure seldom openly in the mainstream in India.

Gender blindness is never the same as gender equality and this move prompts us to draw the distinction.

Garima Sahai is at the University of Cambridge where she wrote her doctoral dissertation on gender and labour in India. She has previously worked on gender and labour in India at the World Bank, and during her MPhil at the University of Oxford.

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Period Leave: Gender Blindness Is Never the Same as Gender Equality - The Wire

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--According to Coherent Market Insights, the North America & Europe age-related macular degeneration therapeutics market is estimated to be valued at US$ 9,958.7 million in 2020 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 6.1% during the forecast period (2020-2027).

Key Trends and Analysis of the North America & Europe Age-related Macular Degeneration Therapeutics Market:

Key trends in the market are the increasing prevalence of age-related macular degeneration, the increasing number of approvals and launches of therapeutics for treatment of age-related macular degeneration, and strategic acquisitions, partnerships, and agreements by key players. These factors are expected to aid growth of the market.

According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology 2020, the prevalence of age-related macular degeneration in the U.S. is roughly 8590% dry age-related macular degeneration and 1015% wet age-related macular degeneration.

Moreover, the increasing number of approvals and launches of age-related macular degeneration therapeutics is expected to drive the market growth during the forecast period. For instance, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (CMC) Prior-Approval Supplement (PAS) for the EYLEA (aflibercept) Injection prefilled syringe.

Furthermore, adoption of strategic acquisitions by key players is expected to propel the market growth during the forecast period. For instance, in February 2020, Gemini Therapeutics and Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI) entered a research collaboration to expand, explore, and discover new targets for treatment of age-related macular degeneration.

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Key Market Takeaways:

The North America & Europe age-related macular degeneration therapeutics market is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 10.2% during the forecast period owing to launches of age-related macular degeneration therapeutics by market players. For instance, in October 2019, Bausch + Lomb, a subsidiary of Bausch Health Companies Inc., launched PreserVision AREDS 2 Formula mini gel eye vitamins for people with moderate to advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in the U.S.

Among regions, North America is expected to hold dominant position in the market during the forecast period owing to high presence of key players such as Novartis AG, and the increasing prevalence of age-related macular degeneration. According to FIGHTING BLINDNESS CANADA, August 2018, every year, around 1.4 million Canadians over age 50 experience vision loss due to age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Competitive Landscape:

Key players operating in the North America & Europe age-related macular degeneration therapeutics market are Novartis AG, Bayer AG, Bausch Health Companies Inc., Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Pfizer, Inc., and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc.

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Market Segmentation:

Related Market Intelligence Report:

Verteporfin Market, by Indication (Macular Degeneration, Pathological Myopia, and Ocular Histoplasmosis), by Distribution Channel (Hospital Pharmacies, Retail Pharmacies and Online Pharmacies), and by Region (North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa) - Size, Share, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2020 2027

Read more: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/verteporfin-market-4154

Eye Health Supplements Market, By Ingredient Type (Lutein and Zeaxanthin, Antioxidants, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, Coenzyme Q10, Flavonoids, Astaxanthin, Alpha-Lipoic Acid, Other Ingredients), By Indication Type (Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD), Cataract, Dry Eye Syndrome, Other Indications), By Form (Tablet, Capsule, Others), and By Region (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East & Africa) - Size, Share, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2020 2027

Read more: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/market-insight/eye-health-supplements-market-3791

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Coherent Market Insights is a global market intelligence and consulting organization focused on assisting our plethora of clients achieve transformational growth by helping them make critical business decisions. We are headquartered in India, having sales office at global financial capital in the U.S. and sales consultants in United Kingdom and Japan. Our client base includes players from across various business verticals in over 57 countries worldwide.

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North America & Europe Age-related Macular Degeneration Therapeutics Market to Surpass US$ 15122.8 Million by 2027, Says Coherent Market Insights...

An inspirational blind six-year-old girl has been tackling the slopes this winter.

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Tallulah doesnt need to see to shine. Source: Seven Sharp

Tallulah Mackay was born without sight.

When she was born we thought nothing, she had no reaction, but as she's gotten older, she's getting better at focussing and honing in on the minimal vision she has, mum Jess Mackay says.

This hasnt stopped the tenacious Tallulah, who this year has decided to take up skiing.

She's always been pretty rambunctious and crazy and fearless, Jess says.

The family shared plenty of images of the spirited southern six-year-old trying her hand at all sorts of activities despite her sight issues.

Check out Tallulah hitting the slopes on the South Islands Southern Alps with her family in the Seven Sharp report above.

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Inspirational six-year-old skier undeterred by blindness, tackles Southern Alps - TVNZ

Social media was briefly taken over by data purportedly showing that only 6% of Covid deaths were from the virus alone, leading some to conclude that Covids true death toll was only a small fraction of the reported 169,000 death. These claims were false. But they provide new perspective on how Americas ill health paved the way for the death of thousands of our citizens.

The Center for Disease Controls September 2 release of Covid death data generated an internet firestorm: according to the CDC, For 6% of the deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned. Ninety-four percent of Covid deaths had so-called comorbidities such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity. This led to internet claims that the true Covid death toll is just 10,000 Americans, undercutting our nationwide economic, social and educational lockdown.

In fact, doctors regularly report multiple causes of death, including factors such as respiratory failure that a Covid infection might itself have caused. Moreover, the number of excess deaths in 2020 that is, the additional deaths this year relative to what might be expected from prior years experience is similar to the 169,000 deaths for which Covid was listed as a factor.

However, the CDC data do make an important point: that Americans poor state of health, mostly related to our own lifestyles, made the U.S. dramatically more vulnerable to Covid.

To date, the United States has suffered 56 Covid-related deaths per one million Americans, a death rate more than twice that of Canada and five times that of Germany, leading to claims that the federal or state governments have mismanaged the Covid response. That may be true.

But U.S. policymakers also suffered under the handicap that Americans entered the Covid pandemic in much poorer health than citizens of other developed countries. For instance, over 27,000 U.S Covid deaths list diabetes as a comorbidity, accounting for 16% of total Covid-related fatalities. But what if instead of having the highest diabetes rate among rich countries the U.S. had the same rate as Australia, with less than half the U.S. level? The same holds for obesity, listed as a comorbidity in 4% of Covid cases. Forty percent of Americans are obese, the highest in the developed world and over twice the OECD average. U.S. death rates from heart disease are also higher than most European and Asian countries. Hypertension is listed as a comorbidity in 22% of Covid deaths. If Americans simply had the same health status as other high-income countries, it is likely that tens of thousands of lives could have been saved.

Most Covid-related comorbidities are lifestyle-related. General practitioners tell me that their Type 2 diabetes patients can tell you their weight and know how it relates to their illness. They know that by losing weight their can reduce their risk of blindness, limb amputations or death. They simply arent able to do it.

Obviously, many other issues affect Covid death rates, from preexisting factors such as population density and mobility to policy responses including testing and quarantining. But had our country been in better health when Covid hit, our death toll almost surely would have been smaller. Americans should know that, under threat from Covid, poor personal health could leave their children orphans.

Some argue for sugar taxes, but the problem goes beyond sugar alone. Americans consume about 25 percent more calories per day than Dutch citizens, for instance, while exercising less. These are difficult issues to address using the typical policy levers.

Instead, public officials could exercise the bully pulpit, just as they did with cigarette smoking. Public statements, advertising and educational campaigns slowly helped shift our culture away from smoking, such that less than 15% of Americans smoke today, versus 42% in the 1960s.

We cant do much today to reduce the comorbidities that made us so susceptible to Covid-19. But by strongly encouraging healthier lifestyles we can better prepare for the next pandemic, while improving Americans quality of life and cutting our sky-high healthcare costs.

Read more here:
Americans' poor health paved the way for Covid deaths - American Enterprise Institute

On Dec. 26, 2004, French author Emmanuel Carrre, his girlfriend and their respective sons were vacationing at a cliff-top hotel in Sri Lanka. Their relationship was dying, and, feeling out of sorts, they decided not to go down to the beachfront scuba diving lesson theyd signed up for. It was a consequential decision, for that was the morning the tsunami hit.

A family they knew was staying on the beach. That morning the grandfather, Philippe, was reading the paper while his 4-year-old granddaughter, Juliette, happily played in the wavelets nearby. Suddenly Philippe felt himself swept up by an enormous wall of black water, pretty sure he would die, certain his granddaughter already had.

In his memoir, Carrre bears witness to the days of suffering and endurance that followed the wave. When Philippe tells his daughter and son-in-law about the death of their child, Juliettes mother, Delphine, screams. Her husband thought, "I can no longer do anything for my daughter, so I will save my wife."

Carrre had lamented that he had always been unable to love, but in those horrific days he and his girlfriend stayed with the family, searched among the corpses, enveloped the family with compassion and practical care.

He is with Delphine when they come across a woman, Ruth, who was on her honeymoon and has lost track of her husband, Tom. For two days she sat outside the hospital, not eating or sleeping, convinced that if she nodded off Tom would never emerge alive from wherever he was.

"Her determination is frightening," Carrre writes. "You can sense that shes quite close to passing to the other side, into catatonia, living death, and Delphine and I understand that our role is to prevent this."

Carrres memoir describes how a self-absorbed man is altered in crisis and develops a deep and perceptive capacity to see the struggles of others. The book is called "Lives Other Than My Own."

I thought of that book this week because the sensitive perceptiveness Carrre displays is the opposite of the blindness Donald Trump displayed in quotes reported by Jeffrey Goldberg in The Atlantic and Bob Woodward in his latest book about the administration, "Rage."

Goldberg says Trump told people that he sees the war dead as "suckers" and "losers." Trump cant seem to fathom the emotional experience of their lives their love for those they fought for, the fears they faced down, the resolve to risk their lives nonetheless.

If he cant see that, he cant understand the men and women in uniform serving around him. He cant understand the inner devotion that drives people to public service, which is supposed to be the core of his job.

The same sort of blindness is on display in the Woodward quotes. It was stupid of Trump to think he could downplay COVID-19 when he already knew it had the power of a pandemic. It was stupid to think the American people would panic if told the truth. It was stupid to talk to Woodward in the first place.

This is not an intellectual stupidity. I imagine Trumps IQ is fine. It is a moral and emotional stupidity. He blunders so often and so badly because he has a narcissists inability to get inside the hearts and minds of other people. Its a stupidity that in almost pure clinical form, flows out of his inability to feel, a stupidity of the heart.

In most times and cultures, people realized that understanding a person or situation is as much an emotional process as an analytical one. In the Bible the word "to know" covers a range of activities, from having a conversation with, to having sex with, to entering into a commitment with and much else all the different ways we come to understand each other.

St. Augustines theory of knowledge begins with emotion. Love is a focus of attention. Love is a motivation to learn more about a person. Love is a reverence for the image of God in each person.

Through his own failures, Trump illustrates by counterexample that the heart is the key to understanding. To accurately size up a human situation you have to project a certain quality of attention that is personal, gentle, respectful, intimate and affectionate more moving with and feeling into than simply observing with detachment.

Maybe I spend too much time on Twitter and in media, but I see less and less of this sort of attention in America, even amid the tragedies of 2020. Far from softening toward one another, the whole country feels even more rived, more hardened and increasingly blind to lives other than our own.

Brooks writes for The New York Times.

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Brooks: When a heart is empty, blind to the struggles of others - Austin American-Statesman

Diabetes is a lifelong condition that can make you susceptible to illnesses and diseases and is caused when a persons blood sugar levels become too high. Diabetes and pre-diabetes are conditions said to affect up to fifty percent of the population of the United States. Diabetes can hinder the quality of a persons life massively. It is critical that in order to live a long, healthy life, you do not consume sugary foods all of the time, otherwise, you may end up with diabetes, which during this current global pandemic, is contributing to high mortality rates. Diabetes must not be allowed to take over your life.

Diabetes is a condition with two main types. There is type one diabetes, which is when the bodys immune system begins to attack and destroy the cells that produce insulin type one diabetes is the most dangerous and the one that can cause the most amount of problems. Type two diabetes is when your body does not produce enough insulin and the bodys cells do not react to insulin. Type two diabetes is the most commonly found type of diabetes throughout the world, with over ninety percent of cases in the United Kingdom being attributed to type two diabetes.

Before moving onto the long-term effects that diabetes can have on your body, it is first important to mention the use of oral medication in the treatment of diabetes. Oral medication can be very successful in treating cases of diabetes and is the most commonly used method of treatment. When oral medication is used in combination with exercise and a healthy lifestyle, it can be very effective. One such medication, Dulaglutide, which is sold under the Trulicity brand name, is commonly used around the world to treat type 2 diabetes and helps to keep your blood sugar in check. However, the reason that online medication specifically has been mentioned, is that in some cases it may be counterproductive and illegal. You should only order online medication for your diabetes if your doctor has recommended it to you. You must not treat yourself, as self-treatment without medical intervention can have serious consequences on your health. You will likely not be a doctor, and no matter how many blog posts or forums you have read you do not know enough to treat yourself. Self-treatment can be a detriment to your recovery and can actually hinder it.

As diabetes increases your blood sugar and makes it higher than it should be, it can cause, after many years, serious problems in your body. Diabetes can harm your eyes, your kidneys, your nerves, your heart, your skin, your blood vessels, and many other parts of your body. The long-term effects of untreated diabetes can be very damaging and cause significant side-effects that can massively hinder your quality of life and in some cases leave you paralyzed. Below you will find the long-term effects of diabetes if left untreated. Always treat your diabetes never allow it to come to what is below:

Diabetes can cause significant eye problems and can directly contribute to blindness. The first sign that diabetes is causing you problems with your eyes is that you have trouble seeing during night time and your eyes become sensitive to light if you have never experienced these before, you may be suffering from diabetes. It can also lead to blindness and is very common among untreated diabetes patients.

Those who suffer from diabetes may go on to develop nasty sores, infections, and illnesses if the sores and infections go on for too long and are not treated, you may have to have the parts affected amputated. Infection also causes pus oozing, pain, and itching, as well as inflammation.

Having diabetes means you may not be able to control your blood pressure and your cholesterol levels. This can mean you may be more susceptible to a heart attack, angina, stroke, and other heart-related conditions it can also make the blood flow from your heart to your legs and feet much more difficult, which in some cases, can result in further amputation.

The nerves within your body can become very damaged as a consequence of untreated diabetes and you can begin to feel sensations such as tingling and loss of feeling. Nerve damage in male diabetes patients can also make it harder to grow and maintain an erection. If the nerve damage goes on and becomes too severe, you may become paralyzed in the parts of your body experiencing the nerve damage.

Food digestion can be hindered when you suffer from diabetes, and you may have trouble and weakness in your bowel movements. Diabetes can be very harmful to your digestive system and can wreak absolute havoc on it. Diabetes can be a big problem when it comes to digestion.

Kidney damage is another problem commonly associated with high levels of blood sugar. Your kidneys may not work as well as they once might have and could even stop working altogether. This could result in dialysis or a kidney transplant, both of which can hinder your quality of life massively and leave you in severe pain for the rest of it.

Mental health problems have been linked to diabetes patients through studies and research. Depression and anxiety have been said to be heavily linked to diabetes and it is even said that the two conditions go hand in hand. Patients who suffer from diabetes are more likely to experience depression and anxiety than those who do not. Mental health problems, in combination with the previously mentioned conditions, can absolutely ruin your life and leave you a shadow of your former self. Rather than allowing diabetes to get this bad and completely ruin your life, seek treatment. Treatment for diabetes can consist of some simple lifestyle changes and some medication. Seek treatment and your symptoms will be reduced and you may be able to fight off diabetes.

Now, with the help of this page, you know everything that there is to know about the long-term effects of diabetes. Treatment is essential and you mustnt suffer silently with the condition as if you do you can do yourself more harm than you could possibly imagine.

Originally posted here:
Long-Term Effects Of Diabetes To Your Body - Emagazine.com - E/The Environmental Magazine

Methodology or analytics are used in the Onchocerciasis (River Blindness) Treatment Market report to present you with an extensive range of information on market tactics, share, and size and market growth. This report mainly focuses to provide relevant market data. This relevant data includes details on consumer behavior, competitive analysis and market trends. Businesses get a chance to identify huge opportunities through this remarkable Onchocerciasis (River Blindness) Treatment Market Research. Readers of this report will get thorough industry information. It provides valuable and precise information about new developments, tools and platforms introduced in the market.

Every single aspect is covered about global market in this Onchocerciasis (River Blindness) Treatment Market analysis. It provides all the market related objectives to provide accurate outline on pricing, customer into, new strategies introduced in the market and best prospects. This entire market report mainly sheds light on the marketers as well as executives. Further, this comprehensive market Report reviews on where to invest and how to increase the sales to generate huge profits. This report is divided into different unique and crucial sections to provide you information precisely. Every single section provides relevant information about market sparks.

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Deep insights are provided from market data and a few crucial elements of market are also discussed. This in-depth Onchocerciasis (River Blindness) Treatment Market Report allows you to go through the forecasting of new findings in the market. It also brings you to go through regions covered such as Latin America, Europe, The Middle East and Asia Pacific. This Market Report stands out due to the use of charts and graphs used to present valuable data on overall market concisely as well as clearly. The main objective of this report is not only to provide market data but also tell how to survive in the market.

It is forecasted that revenue and present scenario will increase highly during 2020 to 2025. Market size is also provided according to region and market for the years 2020-2025. Information about key players and revenue stat by each player is also provided in this Onchocerciasis (River Blindness) Treatment Market Report. This report can be used as a perfect tool by players to get viable edge over competitors. It also ensures lasting success to businesses. In addition, trustworthy sources are used to validate and revalidate the information mentioned here. Industry based and unique research is performed by analysts to give thorough information about market development, In-detail study is also done on competitive landscape. It gives precise data on trending, financial status and insights of the companies, which greatly help in taking beneficial decisions.

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Onchocerciasis (River Blindness) Treatment Market Key Trends and Growth Opportunities - Daily Research Chronicle

SHERRIE Hewson wants to "live every day to the max" including celebrating her 70th birthday with a second facelift.

The Coronation Street actress learnt the important lesson after she lost her brother, Brett Hutchinson, 71, died from a brain tumour earlier this year.

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Brett died in April leaving Sherrie "completely broken", especially because she couldn't visit him due to the coronavirus lockdown.

She admitted she still does not feel "very strong" after losing her brother.

"Whenever I hear any Motown music, which he loved, I just cry. The pain is so terrible, my heart is broken," she told the Mirror.

"Now I look at my life and think, Hang on a minute, what have I got, how long have I got?

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I mean, look at my brother. Two years ago he was the healthiest thing on this planet.

So none of us know whats going to happen."

Sherrie explained that unknown in life is what inspires her to "be healthy and well for my grandchildren".

I wish I had planned more when I was younger. Instead I just went steaming ahead, thinking I was going to live forever," the actress explained.

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Brett was only a couple of years older than me, so as I go into my seventies his death has made me want to live every day to the max."

One thing she decided to do was to get some cosmetic surgery for a "boost".

Sherrie opted for a love handle facelift (LHF) which involves fat from around the hips and stomach and stomach area.

Doctors then combine that fat blood, to encourage stem cells to be released from the fat.

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The LHF was a quick treatment and its given me such a boost. I feel like its rejuvenated my skin and restored all the volume its natural looking with no cutting, and it was all done in under an hour," Sherrie explained.

I absolutely love the results.

She added: I had a facelift when I was 50 and Ive had bits and bobs done throughout the years a bit of botox and filler. But I havent had anything done for a long time now.

But as I approached 70. I just thought, What will I do for myself at this age? I thought I would give myself a last kind of boost so I can look in the mirror and think, Youre not bad for your age."

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Sherrie admitted the facelift from the Harley Street Skin Clinic would help her "give myself a lift after all the stuff I have been through, particularly in the last 18 months".

I need to give my self-confidence and self-worth a big kick up the a**e so can I feel good about myself and hold my head up high, she said.

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Sherrie has opened up previously about how she believed her brother had coronavirus when he died.

She's convinced that coronavirus played a part in his sudden downturn after he was diagnosed with grade 4 glioblastoma the most common and aggressive brain tumour in adults.

"Ill always believe that Covid had something to do with his, they call it pneumonia but I dont believe that," she said.

"Controversially I believe that thats what it was called but no one, you cant prove things, the sadness and the pain was too big to carry on and create a fuss."

Original post:
Sherrie Hewson celebrates 70th birthday with second face lift to transform her looks - The Sun

Katie Kam hasnt eaten brisket since 1996. Or was it 1997? She was working a high school job at the now-shuttered BBs Smokehouse, in Northwest Austin, prior to that, but Kam has been a vegan for so long that the exact date of her last smoked meat meal is hard to pinpoint. Shes hoping to get her next bite about three years from now. Thats when Kam expects BioBQ, the company she started with cofounder Janet Zoldan in late 2018, will harvest its first lab-grown brisket. Kam and Zoldan want the worlds first lab-grown barbecue to be produced or, as they describe it, cultivated, in Austin.

Kam is an Austin native who holds degrees in chemistry and biology as well as a doctoral degree in civil engineering. A few years ago, she was seeking a new design challenge, and several articles about meat grown from animal cells piqued her interest. She reached out to the biomedical engineering department at the University of Texas seeking yet another degree, this one based on the study of cell-based meat production. Zoldan, an associate professor in cellular and biomolecular engineering, brought her in for a meeting and persuaded her to pursue a business rather than another PhD. Zoldan was already working with cardiovascular tissue engineering using human stem cells. She had designed a thermo-sensitive scaffolding system, a sort of framework, for the cells to grow upon, and thought it would translate well into growing bovine cells. The end application is a little bit different, but the route to it is very similar, Zoldan tells me.

The framework was only the beginning. Theyll need to design each component of a brisket separately, like the lean muscle, the fat, and the collagen. Kam has been reading meat science studies about the brisket structure theyre trying to replicate. The components will need to be grown alongside one another and intertwine to mimic the structure of a brisket. Thats a challenge, Kam says, that most lab-grown meat projects wont encounter because they focus on ground meat like burgers and chicken nuggetsfood that has no texture and orientation, unlike brisket, adds Zoldan.

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Then theres the flavor. From a functional perspective, the fat they design for the brisket will need to provide moisture and a pleasing texture, but it also has to contain the proper beefy flavor. Theyll seek help from food scientists to create the flavor, but as a vegan, Kam wont be able test it against a standard brisket from a steer. When I ask her about this, Zoldan chimes in. Its okay. Im here. Im a carnivore.

And that demonstrates the odd duality of a product like BioBQ. It is not to be confused with the Impossible Burger or other plant-based meats. This will be meat-based meat, which is grown from bovine cells harvested via biopsy. The fact that theyll produce real meat is the whole point. Kams mission isnt to persuade omnivores to adapt to her vegan diet, but rather to provide them a beef option that doesnt require animal slaughter. No animal had to die for this, she explains, which is why she feels that eating BioBQ wont compromise her vegan principles.

One other problem with the ethics of lab-grown meat is that current technology relies on fetal bovine serum (FBS), which is harvested from cow fetuses in the slaughterhouse. A vegan product it most certainly is not, but it has no peer when it comes to cell growth promotion in a lab environment. Kam said there is research being done on FBS replacements, which they plan to use. We are committed to testing and using alternatives to FBS, Kam says, even if those alternatives are not as efficient as FBS by the time theyre ready to begin cultivation. She adds, In addition to the animal welfare issues associated with FBS, FBS is not a sustainable resource and is not affordable.

Putting aside Kams ethical issues with meat consumption, she argues that the real downside of traditionally raised beef is that its an inefficient way to get protein. Vast amounts of acreage are set aside for growing plants to feed the cattle, and the animals require lots of water during their lifetimes. Combining the gestation period and the average lifespan of a market steer, it takes at least 27 months to make two briskets. Zoldan estimates that theyll be able to cultivate a complete brisket from just a few cells in three weeks once the process gets rolling.

Theres still much work ahead for the pair before BioBQ becomes a reality, which they hope is by 2023. What they lack now is the capital to move forward. We need funding, Kam says. We know exactly what we need to do in the lab. Hitching their marketing strategy to brisket and barbecue wasnt a bad idea. After all, it got me writing about lab-grown meat for the first time. But there is something about the idea of lab-grown brisket that keeps bothering me, and it has nothing to do with science fiction. If you could design any cut of beef from scratch, why choose one thats so difficult to make delicious? Why not a whole steers worth of ribeyes?

Im from Austin, and I know that briskets kind of a big deal here, Kam jokes. Brisket also raises the bar. It seemed like a great, challenging meat to demonstrate this technology working, she continues, and if they could successfully design a brisket, it would demonstrate their ability to design pretty much any other cut of beef from scratch. A futuristic vision is customizing each specific meat, Zoldan says. In addition to brisket, they also plan to offer BioBQ jerky as one of their initial products. Both women are clear that they dont envision BioBQ completely replacing traditionally grown beef. I dont think cell-based meats will take over the market, but I think theres a place for it on the market, Zoldan emphasizes.

As they drum up funding, Kam and Zoldan are also working to define the language around BioBQ. Focus groups have shown a disdain for the phrase lab-grown meat. The Impossible Burger has a brand name thats better than just plant-based burger. Maybe the name BioBQ will catch on just as organically. The thing I like about BioBQ is that it sort of forces a Southern accent when you say it, Kam says. Shes also working with a graphic designer on labeling and packaging solutions.

Kam and Zoldan are still years away from that first taste of BioBQ, and scaling up from there for public consumption will take even longer, but I wonder if theyd imagined that first bite. Would it come with any trepidation? Like that first person to eat a raw oyster, would the first bite of BioBQ require a certain level of bravery? Kams answer was immediate. She sees no reason why she would hesitate. In this age of consumers curiosity about where their meat comes from, Kam says that question about BioBQ will be easy to answer. Well know exactly how its made.

Excerpt from:
Two Austin Women Hope to Build the First Lab-Grown Brisket - Texas Monthly

Space blindnessthe loss of vision experienced in zero gravity (or microgravity) environmentsisnt just a dramatic plot point for Netflixs Mars odyssey, Away; space blindness (or rather impairment) is an actual documented phenomenon experienced by astronauts.

In fact, almost two-thirds of astronauts report problems with eyesight after months at the International Space Station. One astronaut reported that his impairment worsened so much that he couldn't read the words on a landing checklist.

Between 2015-2016, American astronaut Scott Kelly spent a year at the International Space Station. (His experience acts as the basis for Netflixs Away.) During that year, parts of Kellys retinas actually thickened. He also experienced swelling to the blood supply to the back of his eye. (Kellys strong vision was one of the reasons he was first selected as an astronaut.)

Former NASA Human Research Program Chief Scientist Mark Shelhamer noted in an interview with Air and Space that, for some, impairment has even lingered after returning from space and usually requires an astronaut being there for roughly six months. Stays in space longer than six months (and, for a hypothetical trip to Mars, longer than a year) present a lot of unknowns when it comes to vision impairment. Some research even now suggests that to prevent vision problems, astronauts may require artificial gravity.

NASAGetty Images

So Mishas being ordered to stay in his crew cabins to help restore his eyesight may not be an unlikely command on an extended space flight.

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Reasons for vision impairment arent known for certain, though researchers have several theories. One theory suggests that because zero gravity causes fluids in the body to rise (think of astronauts bloated-looking faces in space), all the extra fluid in the skull might create pressure on the back of the eye.

Testing the theory, researchers found oxidative stress caused by microgravity (or weak gravity) might be doing damage to blood vessels in the eye. If they can find a way to counter oxidative stress, perhaps they can protect astronauts vision.

In the universe of Netflixs Away, it doesnt seem like the problem was ever solved. The countermeasure instead was simply artificial gravity. But as it might take months for vision to return, locking a visually-impaired astronaut in his room doesnt seem like the best strategy for a 3-year-long mission to Mars.

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Netflix 'Away' Space Blindness - Is It Real? - menshealth.com

Alice Lukacs tells of her trips to the eye doctor.Getty Images

At first glance, a trip to McDonalds comes to mind. But no, its all about my eye journal which I started writing eight years ago in 2012, detailing the progression of my AMD (Age-related Macular Degeneration).

It all started, of all places, in the Opera House in Budapest, Hungary. I was enjoying a performance of the opera Carmen, sung in the original French with surtitles in Hungarian (my native language) projected onto the top of the stage. To my surprise, those letters started performing a strange dance, jumping up and down. I could not read a thing.

Back home in Montreal I rushed to make an appointment with my ophthalmologist Dr. Barry Kattleman. After thorough testing, he said the two dreaded words: macular degeneration and promptly referred me to Dr. Julius Gomolin, a retina specialist working at the Jewish General Hospital.

Now this diagnosis brought many unpleasant memories to mind. Years ago, my mother had macular degeneration. In those days, no help was available. Mother, though legally blind, never completely lost her eyesight. But her vision slowly deteriorated, her handwriting became illegible, her chair moving ever closer to the TV set to watch her favourite program All My Children. But I am lucky. In the last decade or so, new medicines injected into the eye have made a big difference in the treatment of macular degeneration.

So here I was at the Jewish General Hospital in the presence of Dr. Gomolin. A tall, good-looking man who somehow immediately wins your confidence, he explained the results of tests taken, admonishing me not to interrupt him, as I had already done, but to let me finish.

And finish he did, explaining that yes, I had macular degeneration of the wet kind, that he proposes giving me injections monthly in both eyes with the aim of stemming the progress of the disease. There was no guarantee, there could be side effects. I agreed to start as soon as possible.

My research showed me that, indeed, there were two kinds of macular degeneration, dry and wet. Earlier stages are considered the dry form. In the more advanced wet form, abnormal blood vessels can bleed and leak fluids in the retina, affecting central vision. I started with the wet form right away.

So eight years ago I started injection treatments, first in both eyes, later only in one, as the other eye no longer needed them.

Once a month, I would sign in at the Ophthalmology Department. Next, technician Jamie would examine my eyesight, then administer drops that would dilate and disinfect. Soon after, I would be called for scans of the eyes. Then, the worst part began. All of us patients were sitting in a row in the waiting area, like birds on a twig, our eyes blurring from the drops. There was little talk. Most of us were seniors, some with walkers, others with someone accompanying them, all of us anxiously waiting for our name to be called.

Finally, my turn came. Dr. Gomolin checked the scans, briefed me on the situation. More drops in the eyes to numb and clean, an eyelid holder inserted so I wont blink, the prick of the injection needle in the eyeball and the ordeal was over. Having made the next appointment, I would go down to the main floor and out the door, eyes blurred, staggering to a taxi to take me home.

When people ask me, horrified, what it is like to have an eye injection, I tell them there is nothing to it. Of course, your vision is blurred for hours afterwards. And, for this experience to be bearable, you have to have someone like Dr. Gomolin performing the procedure.

On a recent visit, Dr. Gomolins news surprised me. I think I will stop the injections he announced.

So my Big Macular Adventure has a happy ending. I think Ill go to McDonalds to celebrate.

Alice Lukacs writes the Life in the 90s column

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Senior Living: Time to celebrate after years of eye injections - County Weekly News